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Shelley D. Copley

Evolution of a New Metabolic Pathway for Biodegradation of an Anthropogenic Pollutant

Thousands of anthropogenic chemicals are released to the environments as pesticides, solvents, textile dyes, and by-products of manufacturing or household activities. Many of these chemicals are not found in nature. Such chemicals may persist in the environment because microorganisms do not have the enzymes required to catalyze their breakdown. However, some microorganisms isolated from contaminated sites have apparently evolved new metabolic pathways that allow them to convert anthropogenic compounds into metabolites that can be completely degraded. This lecture will describe how bacteria evolve new metabolic pathways and will focus particularly on the evolution of a metabolic pathway for degradation of pentachlorophenol, a highly toxic pesticide introduced into the environment only 70 years ago.