Synthetic biology tools for environmental protection
Review article, 2023

Synthetic biology transforms the way we perceive biological systems. Emerging technologies in this field affect many disciplines of science and engineering. Traditionally, synthetic biology approaches were commonly aimed at developing cost-effective microbial cell factories to produce chemicals from renewable sources. Based on this, the immediate beneficial impact of synthetic biology on the environment came from reducing our oil dependency. However, synthetic biology is starting to play a more direct role in environmental protection. Toxic chemicals released by industries and agriculture endanger the environment, disrupting ecosystem balance and biodiversity loss. This review highlights synthetic biology approaches that can help environmental protection by providing remediation systems capable of sensing and responding to specific pollutants. Remediation strategies based on genetically engineered microbes and plants are discussed. Further, an overview of computational approaches that facilitate the design and application of synthetic biology tools in environmental protection is presented.

Synthetic biology

Biosensor

Phytoremediation

Bioremediation

Engineering

Author

Javad Aminian-Dehkordi

University of California

Shadi Rahimi

Chalmers, Life Sciences, Systems and Synthetic Biology

Mehdi Golzar-Ahmadi

University of British Columbia (UBC)

Amritpal Singh

Imperial College London

J. Lopez

Imperial College London

R. Ledesma-Amaro

Imperial College London

Ivan Mijakovic

Novo Nordisk Foundation

Chalmers, Life Sciences, Systems and Synthetic Biology

Biotechnology Advances

0734-9750 (ISSN)

Vol. 68 108239

Graphene-based CRISPR-Cas 9 gene modification to plant cells

Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF20OC0064547), 2021-04-01 -- 2023-12-31.

Subject Categories

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Other Environmental Engineering

Environmental Sciences

DOI

10.1016/j.biotechadv.2023.108239

PubMed

37619824

More information

Latest update

10/6/2023