This work was largely carried out by Minrui Ren in my group at @unileiden.bsky.social and supported by collaborations with Timo Glatter and @rebeleinlab.bsky.social at @mpimicrobiomarburg.bsky.social and @synmikro.bsky.social as well as Meindert Lamers at LUMC and NeCEN.

This study paves the way towards applications of these enzymes in biocatalysis and metabolic engineering for sustainable production with PET-derived ethylene glycol as feedstock.

We also show that the transcriptional activator EtgR controls expression of the gene cluster. Bioinformatic analysis reveals that the etg gene cluster is widely distributed among bacteria, suggesting a common role of NAD-dependent dehydrogenases in ethylene glycol assimilation.

Using proteomics, we identify a gene cluster that is strongly expressed in the presence of ethylene glycol. We report the functional and structural characterization of EtgB and EtgA, key enzymes encoded by this etg gene cluster.

The project is coordinated by @tinadominguez.bsky.social and Henning Kirst at @uco.es and includes my group at @unileiden.bsky.social as well as the teams of Steffen Lindner at Charité, Maria Barbosa at @w-u-r.bsky.social, and Laura Martinelli at INsociety.
Looking forward to working together!

This strain can degrade five recalcitrant pollutants simultaneously and was successfully tested with real-life industrial wastewater!

The study is nicely summarized in an article appearing in @chemistryworld.com, to which I contributed some comments: www.chemistryworld.com/news/enginee...