title: Biological removal of phosphate at low concentrations using recombinant Escherichia coli expressing phosphate-binding protein in periplasmic space.
abstract: During wastewater treatment, phosphate removal is an important and challenging process; thus, diverse technologies, including those derived from biological means, have been devised for efficient phosphate removal. Although conventional biological methods are effective in decreasing wastewater phosphate levels to ~1 mg/L, long periods of microbial adaptation are required for effective phosphate removal, and the removal efficiency of these methods is relatively poor at lower phosphate concentrations. In the present work, we constructed a recombinant Escherichia coli with periplasmic-expressed phosphate-binding protein (PBP) and investigated its biological removal ability for low phosphate levels. We found that the PBP-expressing recombinant E. coli cells showed efficient (> 94 %) removal of phosphate at low concentrations (0.2-1.0 mg/L) in a treated cell mass-dependent manner. Collectively, we propose that our PBP-expressing recombinant whole-cell system could be successfully used during wastewater treatment for the biological removal of low concentrations of phosphate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Semyung University, Jecheon, 390-711, Korea, sschoi@semyung.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Suk Soon
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Hyun Min
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jeong Hyub
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Dong Gyun
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Chang Sup
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jeong Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Hyung Joon
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Cha
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019897:Periplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D028044:Phosphate-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010710:Phosphates / Q000378:metabolism*; D011485:Protein Binding; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis / Q000382:microbiology*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000378:metabolism*; D018508:Water Purification
chemical_list: D028044:Phosphate-Binding Proteins; D010710:Phosphates; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical