Engineering Yeast and Plants for Heavy Metal Applications: from Bioremediation to Bioextraction




Title of the project: Engineering Yeast and Plants for Heavy Metal Applications: from Bioremediation to Bioextraction

Funding source: „EEA Grants”


Acronym of the project: YePlaHeMe


Project cod: EEA-JRP-RO-NO-2013-1-0047


Contract number: 21/ 30.06.2014


Project Director: Conf. Dr. Ileana Cornelia Fărcăşanu



Consortium structure






Coordinator -




University of Bucharest, The Research Center for Applied Organic Chemistry , Faculty of Chemistry






Partener 1 -


UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN TRONDHEIM




Partener 2 -



The Institute of Biochemistry of the Romanian

Academy





Coordinator – Bucharest University, The Research Center for Applied Organic Chemistry from the Faculty of Chemistry


Project Director: Ileana Cornelia Fărcăşanu, Asscociate Professor, Phd


The team members:







Partener 1 - UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN TRONDHEIM


Team Leader: Bones AM, PhD, Profesor, Department of Biology

The team members:


Partener 2 - The Institute of Biochemistry of the Romanian Academy


Team Leader: Petrescu A-J, PhD, Head of DBSB


The team members:





OBJECTIVES


In this study, we propose to use state-of-the-art methodology to obtain heavy metal hyperaccumulating organisms designed primarily for metal related bioremediation and bioextraction actions. Until now, attempts have been made to improve the biosorption and accumulation abilities of yeast cells by expressing various combinations of heterologous oligopeptides onto the surface of yeast cells using the arming technology (cell surface engineering). The results were good, but not spectacular, since the increase of heavy metal binding is limited to the cell surface, a part of the cell which is already recognized for its metal-absorptive capabilities. Through targeting metal-binding entities to the inner face of the plasma membrane we would still take advantage of the biosorptive capacity of the yeast cell wall, but in addition, we expect that the metal ions penetrating the cell would be entrapped by the heterologous metal binding proteins/oligopeptides targeted to the inner face of the plasma membrane.  

Our main objectives are:


 1)

To engineer yeast based systems designed to hyperaccumulate heavy metals, with potential utilization for heavy metal or bioextraction;

 2)

The extrapolation of yeast-based systems designed and characterized in 1) to plants with potential use in phytoremediation or phytoextraction.



Additionally, we expect that the end products of the Romanian Norwegian joint research will further produce notable results in:

 

a)

Selection of plants with metal accumulation restricted to targeted organs;

 

b)

Selection of hyperaccumulator yeast with potential as food supplements;

 

c)

Selection of hyperaccumulators as paramagnetism traps.


Expected results:


Year 2014:

1) Collection of yeast plasmids harboring heterologous metal-binding proteins.

2-3) Collection of plant plasmids harboring heterologous metal-binding proteins.

4) First yeast and plants transgenic mutants.

5) Initiation of data base.

6) Interim report


Year 2015:

1) Collection of yeast plasmids harboring artificial metal-binding oligopeptides.

2) Collection of plant plasmids harboring artificial metal-binding oligopeptides.

3) Selected yeast mutants which hyperaccumulate metals.

4) Selected plant lines which hyperaccumulate metals.

5) Models for interactions between artificial oligopeptides and various metal ions.

6) Database in progress.

7) Manuscripts.

8) Interim report.


Year 2016:

1) Heavy metal hyperaccumulating yeast strains with bioremediation potential.

2) Heavy metal hyperaccumulating yeast strains with bioextraction potential.

3) Heavy metal hyperaccumulating plant lines with phytoremediation potential.

4) Heavy metal hyperaccumulating plant lines with phytoextraction potential.

5) Heavy metal hyperaccumulating yeast strains with interesting/peculiar characteristics.

6) Heavy metal hyperaccumulating plant lines with interesting/peculiar characteristics.

7) Validation of the molecular models proposed by correlation with experimental data from yeast and plants.

8) Manuscipts.

9) Database in progress.

10) Interim report.


Year 2017:

1) Collection of yeast and plant plasmids harboring validated metal-binding sequences.

2) Collection of yeast and plant single-metal hyperaccumulators.

3) Collection of yeast and plant multi-metal hyperaccumulators.

4) Comprehensive database.

5) Manuscripts.

6) Final report.