title: Engineering bacterial efflux pumps for solar-powered bioremediation of surface waters.
abstract: Antibiotics are difficult to selectively remove from surface waters by present treatment methods. Bacterial efflux pumps have evolved the ability to discriminately expel antibiotics and other noxious agents via proton and ATP driven pathways. Here, we describe light-dependent removal of antibiotics by engineering the bacterial efflux pump AcrB into a proteovesicle system. We have created a chimeric protein with the requisite proton motive force by coupling AcrB to the light-driven proton pump Delta-rhodopsin (dR) via a glycophorin A transmembrane domain. This creates a solar powered protein material capable of selectively capturing antibiotics from bulk solutions. Using environmental water and direct sunlight, our AcrB-dR vesicles removed almost twice as much antibiotic as the treatment standard, activated carbon. Altogether, the AcrB-dR system provides an effective means of extracting antibiotics from surface waters as well as potential antibiotic recovery through vesicle solubilization.
authors.affiliation: School of Energy, Environmental, Biological and Medical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, 2901 Woodside Drive, 705 Engineering Research Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221, USA.
authors.forename: Vikram
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kapoor
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wendell
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D027425:ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family C Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D015202:Protein Engineering; D013499:Surface Properties; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D027425:ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family C Proteins; D014867:Water; C083496:AcrB protein, E coli