Metabolic Modeling of Pseudomonas putida to Understand and Improve the Breakdown of Plastic Waste
Abstract
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the worlds highest production-volume plastic and a major waste management issue for the Army. While synthetic polymers typically resist biodegradation, organisms have been discovered that can decompose PET into soluble but toxic monomers, ethylene glycol (EG) and terephthalic acid (TPA). Pseudomonas putida is a soil bacterium known for its receptiveness to genetic engineering and ability to metabolize an assortment of organic compounds. We sought to understand the pathways by which P. putida can metabolize EG and TPA. Our analyses employed two genome-scale metabolic models of P. putida KT2440: one on the web platform KBase and the other, COBRApy, implemented in Python. These models were used to generate flux balance analysis (FBA) output to quantitatively predict the organisms growth in different media. FBA results indicate that P. putida KT2440, described by the model iJN1463, is capable of biomass formation on EG and on protocatechuate (PCA), a metabolite two steps downstream of TPA. Most P. putida strains lack the protein machinery to import TPA and convert it to PCA. However, bioinformatic searches reveal homologous transporter proteins and enzymes in P. putida genomes that may be only a few mutational steps removed from performing the reactions for TPA metabolism.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1113152
Entities
People
- Alexander V. Tobias
- Leah A Lewis
- Matthew A Perisin
Organizations
- United States Army Research Laboratory