Why Modeling?
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PET degradation by Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
A C. reinhardtii which expresses and secretes the enzymes PETase and MHETase could pose as a solution for the problem of micro-plastic polluted water. Nevertheless, the viability of PET-degradation by C. reinhardtii at a larger scale is yet unknown. Models of biological systems allow us to design experiments in silico that are difficult to reproduce in vivo and give us special insights into the role that parameters might play in the given biological system. Therefore, to assess the efficiency of PET-degradation by C. reinhardtii, a model of PET degradation was designed.
The overall goal of the model is to determine the time needed to degrade 1 mg of PET. The expression rate, secretion rate and kinetics of the enzymes, such as also the cultivation density, influence the degradation rate of PET. Based on this assumption, the model was designed to take these factors into account. The model was programmed in Tellurium (Choi et al., 2018) and encompasses six reactions. The reactions are as follows, as can be seen on Fig. 1:
"The overall goal of the model is to determine the time needed to degrade 1 mg of PET."
| Reaction | Rate | Value |
|---|---|---|
| R1: --> PETase_in | 12,5 ml | 20 ml |
| R2: --> MHETase_in | 12,5 ml | 20 ml |
| R3: PETase_in --> PETase_out | 3,5 ml | 5,6 ml |
| R4: MHETase_in --> MHETase_out | 471,5 ml | 754,4 ml |
| R5: PET + PETase_out --> MHET + PETase_out | 7,2 g | 14,4 g |
| R6: MHET + MHETase_out --> TPA + EG + PETase_out | 7,2 g | 14,4 g |
Results: Variating the Cultivation Density
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