Environmental applications of enzymes

每年生产大量的普通毒品，其中许多在加拿大各地的地表沃茨中被发现。这些和其他药物活性化合物（PAC）最终通过未经处理和处理的废水进入环境。虽然其浓度极低，但越来越多的证据表明，水生生物接触具有毒性、雌激素或其他生理作用的活性炭会产生不利影响。不幸的是，虽然市政当局依靠废水处理厂在废水被处置到地表水体之前从废水中去除这些化合物，但这种处理系统已被证明是非常无效的。预计未来将实施严格的指导方针来管理PAC的释放，有必要确定和优先考虑可能最受关注的化合物，并制定处理方法以实现从废物流中去除这些化合物。 因此，提出了以下目标：（1）将开发方法来预测来自社区的PAC的质量排放率，以估计其在废物列车沿着的各个阶段（即，（2）排放率估计将与流域模型相结合，以预测地表沃茨中的活性炭浓度，从而为风险评估和确定管制活性炭排放的工作的优先次序奠定基础;以及（3）将研究酶催化作为靶向处理有问题的PAC以防止其不受控制地释放到表面沃茨中的方法。 后者的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氧化真实的废物中的PAC的能力，评估在从源头到净化废水的各个地点处理PAC的可行性，以及开发提高反应速率和最大限度地降低酶成本的方法。

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.