A bioinformatics pipeline for insights into xenobiotic degredation

The presence of micropollutants within wastewater, particularly those that cannot be fully removed via conventional treatment methods, is an increasing problem. Examples of such micropollutants include endocrine disrupting compounds, such as estrogens, which can cause undesirable ecological effects at ng.L-1 concentrations. One of the aims of the NUFEB synthetic biology team is to enhance the estrogen degredation function within wastewater communities. However, the enzymes, pathways and regulatory mechanisms involved in the metabolism of many xenobiotic compounds, including estrogens, have yet to be elucidated. In this talk, I will describe the initial version of a pipeline that we have set up to attempt to identify enzymes potentially involved in the process, and discuss potential directions for future work.