Team:TzuChiU Formosa/Project/COKiller

Idea 2:CO killer

Abstract

CO is produced and emitted by incomplete burning of fuel, such as propane, kerosene, gasoline, oil, natural gas, wood and charcoal; and because Carbon Monoxide (CO) is odorless, tasteless and invisible – it’s a silent killer, people can be exposed to CO without even knowing it. However, CO poisoning is avoidable and preventable if the necessary safety measures are taken. The only safe way to know if carbon monoxide is present is to install carbon monoxide detectors. However, the devices available in the market are expensive and usually only able to detect Carbon Monoxide but unable to degrade it. Thus, we come up to an idea, a genetically modified bacterium which may degrade Carbon Monoxide to harmless Carbon Dioxide by emitting out light as signal. While on the other hand, the Carbon Dioxide collected can be used as biofuel. As we know, carboxydobacteria are able to oxidize CO (carbon monoxide) to CO2, using an enzyme CODH (carbon monoxide dehydrogenase). The carboxydobacteria are not obligate CO users, i.e., some are also hydrogen bacteria, and some are phototrophic bacteria. Interestingly, the enzyme CODH used by the carboxydobacteria to oxidize CO to CO2, therefore we would like to use the CODH and the operon system as the basis of our detector.