Biofilms in engineered extracellular matrix

• Main Author: Koh, Fang Ling
• Other Authors: Cao Bin
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering::Hazardous substances
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64434
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Engineered extracellular matrix, or biofilm mimics, is a promising technology to substitute real biofilms to enhance the performance in bioremediation of xenobiotics. Comamonas testosteroni WDL7, identified as a strain of soil bacteria, was found to be able to metabolize 3-chloroaniline (3-CA), a type of xenobiotic. However, C. testosteroni WDL7 gets inhibited at high concentrations of 3-CA. It was proposed that immobilizing C. testosteroni WDL7 in alginate hydrogel will provide a suitable environment for C. testosteroni WDL7 to grow and protect the cells from the toxicity of 3-CA. This project aims to characterize the growth of WDL7 and degradation of 3-CA when they are performing catalysis in both planktonic and hydrogel entrapped conditions in growth and non-growth modes. The results indicated that C. testosteroni WDL7 in planktonic culture is able to grow using 3-CA as a carbon source at low concentrations of 3-CA as indicated by its OD600 growth profile and biomass profile through protein quantification. C. testosteroni WDL7 is also found to be able to degrade 3-CA completely at such concentrations. However, they are inhibited at high concentrations of 3-CA at 600ppm. WDL7 immobilized in a hydrogel grows continuously over a period of 10 days.