A modular synthetic biology pipeline for the engineering of next generation sustainable and bioactive dyes

对纺织行业中任何品牌的成功至关重要的是染色工艺，它要求颜色表现出一致性、耐受性和经济可行性。然而，这些要求带来了巨大的环境和社会成本，该行业被全球公认为环境污染最严重的工业过程之一，每年消耗130万吨染料和颜料，其中最常见的是来自石化来源的合成偶氮染料。然而，这些染料具有高度的毒性和生物累积性，每年在废水中损失约20万吨，其中大多数逃脱了常规废水处理，纺织品染色占全球工业水污染的20%以上。该行业也是最大的工业用水用户之一，年用水量超过5.8万亿升。禁止某些偶氮染料和控制有毒废水排放的尝试失败，给纺织业带来了巨大的压力，作为全球消费者的一部分，纺织行业需要替代染色方法，并对生产技术的更可持续发展提出了越来越高的监管要求。因此，在每年98亿美元的染料市场上，“天然染料”的流量迅速增长。然而，这类染料很少是低影响的，通常使用媒染剂将颜色固定在织物上，并且仍然消耗大量的水。基于合成生物学的进步，Colorifix通过将低成本的常见农业副产品(如糖蜜)转化为高价值的颜料和染色纺织品，为传统染色技术提供了一种生态和可持续的替代方案。所有这些都可以在没有任何酸、重金属或溶剂的情况下完成，这在传统染色中是必要的。Colorifix工艺的用水量减少了10%，能耗降低了80%。随着品牌利益的获得，在Innovate UK的支持下，Colorifix的目标是与Earlham Institute合作，提供为期18个月的工业研究计划，以研究使用工业假单胞菌物种替代传统大肠杆菌_假单胞菌_S_提供代谢多功能细菌和特殊宿主来表达复杂的天然产品，但受限于其无法降解以蔗糖为基础的可再生饲料的潜力。这些活动将使Colorifix能够真正扩大这一过程，并利用现有的全球市场机会。新出现的知识还为生产抗病毒和抗微生物染料增加了重大价值，并开辟了新的机会，因为已报道的蒽醌类化合物具有治疗潜力。

Critical for the success of any brand in the Textile industry is the dyeing process with a requirement for colours to demonstrate uniformity, resistance and economic viability. These requirements however come at a significant environmental and societal cost with the industry globally recognised as one of the most environmentally polluting Industrial processes, consuming \> 1.3 million tons of dyes and pigments p.a, the most common of which are synthetic azo dyes derived from petrochemical sources. These dyes are however highly toxic and bioaccumulative with some 200K tons lost annually in effluent, most escaping conventional wastewater treatment with textile dyeing accounting for over 20% of global industrial water pollution The industry is also one of the largest industrial water consumers with over 5.8 trillion litres of water consumed p.a.Failed attempts to ban certain Azo dyes and control the release of toxic wastewaters, have placed significant pressure on the Textile industry for alternative dyeing methods as part of a global consumer and increasing regulatory demand for greater sustainability in production techniques. As a result, the market has seen a flux of 'natural dyes' growing rapidly in the $9.8 billion/year dye market. However, such dyes are rarely 'low-impact' often using mordants to "fix" colour onto the fabric and still consuming large quantities of water.Based on advancements in synthetic biology, Colorifix offer an ecological and sustainable alternative to conventional dyeing techniques by converting low-cost commonly available agricultural by-products such as sugar molasses into high-value pigments and dyed textiles. All of this can be done without any acids, heavy metals or solvents as required in conventional dyeing. The Colorifix process also uses 10 times less water and up to 80% less energy.With significant brand interest secured, and with Innovate UK support, Colorifix aim to deliver 18-month programme of Industrial Research in collaboration with the Earlham Institute to investigate the potential to scale production using industrial_Pseudomonas_ species as a replacement for traditional_Escherichia coli_ -_Pseudomona__s_ offering a metabolically versatile bacterium and an exceptional host for the expression of complex natural products but limited in its inability to degrade sucrose-based renewable feedstocks. These activities will enable Colorifix to truly scale the process and capitalise upon the Global market opportunity available. The arising knowledge also add significant value and open new opportunities to manufacture antiviral and antimicrobial dyes due to the reported therapeutic potential of anthraquinones.