Part:BBa_K4881027

The construct starts with a T7 promoter, followed by a ribosome binding site and MHETase linked to PETase. PETase encodes for the PETase enzyme, which catalyzes the breakdown of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to monomeric mono-2-hydroxyethyl terephthalate (MHET). MHETase encodes for the production of the MHETase enzyme, which catalyzes the breakdown of MHET to ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid. These genes are joined together by a 12 amino acid linker containing glycine and serine. This combination seemed to obtain better results in expression according to the paper “Characterization and engineering of a two-enzyme system for plastics depolymerization”, where it was compared with an 8 amino acid linker and a 20 amino acid linker. Finally, before the double terminator, our team decided to add a reporter gene that would express pink chromoprotein as a visual indicator that the bacteria took the plasmid.