• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

New nano strategy fights superbugs

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
March 12, 2020
in Biology
Reading Time: 5 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Rice University material ‘traps and zaps’ floating DNA that makes bacteria resistant

IMAGE

Credit: Illustration by Danning Zhang/Rice University


HOUSTON – (March 12, 2020) – It’s not enough to take antibiotic-resistant bacteria out of wastewater to eliminate the risks they pose to society. The bits they leave behind have to be destroyed as well.

Researchers at Rice University’s Brown School of Engineering have a new strategy for “trapping and zapping” antibiotic resistant genes, the pieces of bacteria that, even though theirs hosts are dead, can find their way into and boost the resistance of other bacteria.

The team led by Rice environmental engineer Pedro Alvarez is using molecular-imprinted graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets to absorb and degrade these genetic remnants in sewage system wastewater before they have the chance to invade and infect other bacteria.

The researchers targeted plasmid-encoded antibiotic-resistant genes (ARG) coding for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1 (NDM1), known to resist multiple drugs. When mixed in solution with the ARGs and exposed to ultraviolet light, the treated nanosheets proved 37 times better at destroying the genes than graphitic carbon nitride alone.

The work done under the auspices of the Rice-based Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) is detailed in the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science and Technology.

“This study addresses a growing concern, the emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria known as superbugs,” said Alvarez, director of the NEWT Center. “They are projected to cause 10 million annual deaths by 2050.

“As an environmental engineer, I worry that some water infrastructure may harbor superbugs,” he said. “For example, a wastewater treatment plant in Tianjin that we’ve studied is a breeding ground, discharging five NDM1-positive strains for each one coming in. The aeration tank is like a luxury hotel where all bacteria grow.

“Unfortunately, some superbugs resist chlorination, and resistant bacteria that die release extracellular ARGs that get stabilized by clay in receiving environments and transform indigenous bacteria, becoming resistome reservoirs. This underscores the need for technological innovation, to prevent the discharge of extracellular ARGs.

“In this paper, we discuss a trap-and-zap strategy to destroy extracellular ARGs. Our strategy is to use molecularly imprinted coatings that enhance selectivity and minimize interference by background organic compounds.”

Molecular imprinting is like making a lock that attracts a key, not unlike natural enzymes with binding sites that only fit molecules of the right shape. For this project, graphitic carbon nitride molecules are the lock, or photocatalyst, customized to absorb and then destroy NDM1.

To make the catalyst, the researchers first coated the nanosheet edges with a polymer, methacrylic acid, and embedded guanine. “Guanine is the most readily oxidized DNA base,” Alvarez said. “The guanine is then washed with hydrochloric acid, which leaves behind its imprint. This serves as a selective adsorption site for environmental DNA (eDNA).”

Rice graduate student Danning Zhang, co-lead author of the paper, said carbon nitride was chosen for the base nanosheets because it is nonmetallic and is thus safer to use, and for its easy availability.

Alvarez noted all catalysts are efficient at removing ARGs from distilled water, but not nearly as effective in secondary effluent, a product of sewage treatment plants after solids and organic compounds are removed.

“In secondary effluent, you have reactive oxygen species scavengers and other inhibitory compounds,” Alvarez said. “This trap-and-zap strategy significantly enhances removal of the eDNA gene, clearly outperforming commercial photocatalysts.”

The researchers wrote that conventional disinfection processes used at wastewater treatment plants, including chlorination and ultraviolet radiation, are moderately effective in removing antibiotic-resistant bacteria but relatively ineffective at removing ARGs.

They hope their strategy can be adapted on an industrial scale.

Zhang said the lab has not yet run extensive tests on other ARGs. “Since guanine is a common constituent of DNA, and thus ARGs, this approach should also efficiently degrade other eARGs,” he said.

There is room to improve the current process, despite its extraordinary initial success. “We have not yet attempted to optimize the photocatalytic material or the treatment process,” Zhang said. “Our objective is to offer proof-of-concept that molecular imprinting can enhance the selectivity and efficacy of photocatalytic processes to target eARGs.”

Qingbin Yuan of Nanjing Tech University, China, is co-lead author of the paper. Co-authors are Rice graduate students Ruonan Sun and Hassan Javed, and Gang Wu, an assistant professor of hematology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston’s McGovern Medical School. Pingfeng Yu, a postdoctoral researcher at Rice, is co-corresponding author. Alvarez is the George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a professor of chemistry and of chemical and biomolecular engineering.

###

The National Science Foundation and National Natural Science Foundation of China supported the research.

Read the abstract at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.9b06926.

This news release can be found online at https://news.rice.edu/2020/03/11/new-nano-strategy-fights-superbugs/

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Related materials:

New spheres trick, trap and terminate water contaminant: http://news.rice.edu/2018/10/05/new-spheres-trick-trap-and-terminate-water-contaminant-2/

Alvarez Research Group: https://chemistry.rice.edu/people/pedro-alvarez

Rice Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: https://cee.rice.edu

George R. Brown School of Engineering: https://engineering.rice.edu

Images for download:

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2020/03/0316_WATER-1-WEB.jpg

A schematic shows the three-step method to produce molecular-imprinted graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets. The process developed by Rice University researchers could help catch and kill free-floating antibiotic resistant genes found in secondary effluent produced by wastewater plants. (Credit: Illustration by Danning Zhang/Rice University)

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2020/03/0316_WATER-2-WEB.jpg

At left, a scanning electron microscope image shows the mesoporous structure of molecular-imprinted graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets. At right, a transmission electron microscope image shows the sheet’s edge and its crystalline structure. Rice University researchers imprinted the nanosheets to catch and kill free-floating antibiotic resistant genes found in secondary effluent produced by wastewater plants. (Credit: Alvarez Research Group/Rice University)

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,962 undergraduates and 3,027 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 4 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

Jeff Falk

713-348-6775

[email protected]

Mike Williams

713-348-6728

[email protected]

Media Contact
Mike Williams
[email protected]
713-348-6728

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b06926

Tags: BacteriologyBiochemistryBiologyBiotechnologyEcology/EnvironmentEnvironmental HealthGeneticsPollution/RemediationPublic Health
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Feedback Loop

The other side of the story: How evolution impacts the environment

June 5, 2023
African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP) Open Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics Southern Africa Workshop Poster 2023

African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP) Open Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics Workshop 2023

June 5, 2023

Weather anomalies are keeping insects active longer

June 5, 2023

Scientists expand understanding of limb evolution in earliest birds

June 5, 2023
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • plants

    Plants remove cancer causing toxins from air

    41 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • Element creation in the lab deepens understanding of surface explosions on neutron stars

    36 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9
  • Deep sea surveys detect over five thousand new species in future mining hotspot

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9
  • How life and geology worked together to forge Earth’s nutrient rich crust

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Ba2LuAlO5: A new proton conductor for next-generation fuel cells

Programmable 3D printed wound dressing could improve treatment for burn, cancer patients

Team develops smartphone app to enhance midwifery care in Tanzania

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 50 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In