SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY APPROACHES FOR BIOENGINEERING MICROORGANISMS CAPABLE OF OIL SPILL BIOREMEDIATION

Abstract

Background: Oil spills are one of the most serious environmental pollutants and they cause long term ecological damages to marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Conventional remediation methods like chemical dispersants and mechanical recovery are often inefficient, costly and may produce secondary pollution. Recent advances in synthetic biology offer new possibilities to engineer microorganisms for enhanced hydrocarbon degradation.
Objective: The aim of this study is to explore synthetic biology strategies to bioengineer microorganisms for enhanced efficiency in the bioremediation of oil spills via genetic and metabolic engineering approaches.

Methods: We enhanced the expression of alkane hydroxylase and biosurfactant production by genetic engineering of hydrocarbon-degrading bacterial strains like Pseudomonas putida and Alcanivorax borkumensis using CRISPR-Cas systems and recombinant DNA technology. The hydrocarbon degradation efficiency of the engineered strains was tested under simulated oil spill conditions using GC-MS analysis.

Findings: The engineered microorganisms demonstrated around 80–85% hydrocarbon degradation in 14 days compared to 45–50% observed in wild-type strains. Enhanced bioavailability of oil and microbial survival under saline conditions was significantly improved by increased biosurfactant production and enhanced stress tolerance.
Conclusion: Microbial engineering based on synthetic biology provides a sustainable, efficient and eco-friendly approach to oil spill bioremediation with great potential for large-scale environmental applications.