Environmental applications of enzymes

每年生产大量的普通药物，其中许多已在加拿大各地的地表水中被检测到。这些和其他药物活性化合物（PACs）最终通过未经处理和处理的废水进入环境。虽然它们的浓度极低，但越来越多的证据表明，使水生生物接触pac会产生毒性、雌激素或其他生理效应，从而产生不利影响。不幸的是，虽然市政当局依靠污水处理厂在排放到地表水水体之前将这些化合物从废水中去除，但这种处理系统已被证明是相当无效的。由于预计今后将执行严格的管制pac排放的准则，因此有必要确定可能引起最大关注的化合物并确定其优先次序，并制定处理方法以完成将其从废物流中清除。因此，提出以下目标：(1)将发展方法，以预测社区的pac的大量排放率，估计其在废物列车沿线不同阶段（即从源头到流入到流出）的浓度，并探索应实施处理技术的废物列车沿线地点；(2)将排放率估算与流域模型相结合，预测地表水中氯代酚的浓度，为风险评估和调整氯代酚排放的优先次序奠定基础；(3)酶催化将作为一种针对有问题的pac的处理方法，以防止其不受控制地释放到地表水中。后一项工作建立在我们实验室进行的广泛研究的基础上，以探索酶的环境应用。这项研究将包括研究氧化还原酶在实际废物中氧化活性炭的能力，评估从污染源到抛光废水处理活性炭的可行性，以及开发提高反应速率和尽量减少酶成本的方法。

Significant quantities of common drugs are produced each year, many of which have been detected in surface waters across Canada. These and other pharmaceutically active compounds (PACs) end up in the environment through untreated and treated effluents. While their concentrations are extremely low, evidence is growing about the adverse effects of exposing aquatic organisms to PACs that exert toxic, estrogenic or other physiological effects. Unfortunately, while municipalities are relying on wastewater treatment plants to remove these compounds from effluents before they are disposed into surface water bodies, such treatment systems have been shown to be quite ineffective. In anticipation of the future implementation of strict guidelines governing the release of PACs, it is necessary to identify and prioritize compounds that are likely to be of greatest concern and to develop treatment approaches to accomplish their removal from waste streams. Therefore, the following objectives are proposed: (1) methods will be developed to predict mass emission rates of PACs from communities, to estimate their concentrations at various stages along the waste train (i.e., from source to influent to effluent), and to explore locations along the waste train where treatment technologies should be implemented; (2) emission rate estimates will be coupled with watershed models to predict concentrations of PACs in surface waters in order to form a basis for the evaluation of risks and the prioritization of efforts for regulating the release of PACs; and (3) enzyme catalysis will be investigated as a method for targeting the treatment of problematic PACs to prevent their uncontrolled release into surface waters. The latter work builds on the extensive research conducted in our laboratory to explore environmental applications of enzymes. The research will involve studies of the ability of oxidoreductases to oxidize PACs in real wastes, evaluation of the feasibility of treating PACs at locations ranging from source to polished effluent, and development of approaches to enhance reaction rates and minimize enzyme costs.