"Oh my God, Brother Long, I admire you so much. No wonder they call you the Problem Killer. You are so awesome!"
Williams sat in front of the electron microscope, staring unblinkingly at the petri dish, exclaiming in amazement.
Wen Renlong wore a simple lab coat and stood aside with a proud smile.
"How did the improved super enzyme perform in the experiment?"
Williams nodded like crazy, but couldn't bear to move his eyes away from the camera for even a second, chattering incessantly.
"It's great. The original three enzymes were all monomeric enzymes. They only had a single function and were not very efficient. After our improvement and strengthening, the degradation speed of each enzyme increased by 20 times, which is already very good. .”
"We observed the 3D molecular structures of the three enzymes, used the observation results to design the connections between the three enzymes, and then simply combined the three modified enzymes together. Unexpectedly, such a violent reaction would occur. "
"This specially designed linkage combines three enzymes to create a 'super enzyme' capable of degrading plastic hundreds of times faster."
"Plastics that originally took a week to degrade can now be completely decomposed into plastic monomers in less than an hour. It's simply amazing."
"It's like the CPU, memory and hard disk are connected together through the motherboard to form a super computer."
"Such a multi-enzyme complex is exactly the 'super enzyme' I want!"
After he said this, Wen Renlong pulled him away from the microscope.
Wen Renlong moved his eyes in front of the camera, stared at the petri dish for a long time, and then sighed.
"This is a miracle of nature, and it is also a miracle of human creation."
Williams chuckled and said: "The petri dish only degrades microplastic particles. Although the effect is amazing, more in-depth and detailed experiments are needed to confirm it."
"Next, I will use the super enzyme to degrade various untreated plastic products, such as plastic containers, plastic bags, polyester fibers and fabrics, etc., and record the effectiveness and efficiency of the super enzyme in degrading different plastic products."
Wen Renlong nodded, turned around and left: "The rest is your business. My work has been completed. If you have any questions, call me anytime."
The subsequent experiment went smoothly. Williams and his team members tried more than 60 kinds of plastic products, covering almost all common plastic varieties.
They soaked plastic products in water and added super enzymes, which visibly began to melt the plastics.
After 6 hours, finger-sized holes began to appear on the plastic product.
After 12 hours, the plastic product has lost its original shape, like a cracked rag, broken into pieces one after another.
After 18 hours, most of the plastic products turned into microplastics invisible to the naked eye, with only some harder parts still maintaining the form of floc.
After 24 hours, the microplastics disappeared under the microscope.
Experiments show that all plastics are completely degraded within 2-3 days, and the most rapid degradation is completed in only 4 hours.
This result shocked everyone in the laboratory.
Even Williams didn't expect the effect to be so amazing.
Everyone cheered for this achievement.
There is no doubt that with super enzymes, companies will be able to recycle and reuse plastics at a molecular level, thereby reducing the negative impact on the environment.
This state-of-the-art plastic recycling technology will not only usher in drastic changes in the plastic manufacturing and waste treatment industries, but also enable other industries to see endless possibilities.
However, just obtaining super enzymes in the laboratory is not enough.
In order for the billions of tons of plastic waste around the world to disappear as soon as possible, Williams' team has one more thing to do.
That is to transform a genetically engineered bacterium and carry out large-scale industrial production of super enzymes.
Protein macromolecules with high catalytic performance, such as super enzymes, are produced by living cells.
Although it can also be synthesized chemically, the cost is too high and this method is generally not used.
A common method is to produce enzymes through microbial fermentation.
Cheap, high yield, stable and effective.
However, this method also has very high requirements for enzyme-producing microorganisms, which are difficult to meet at the same time, so they all need to be genetically engineered.
They must be non-pathogenic bacteria, safe, reliable, non-toxic, have a short fermentation cycle, produce high amounts of enzymes, and are not prone to mutation or degradation. It is best to use strains that can produce extracellular enzymes for easy isolation and purification.
Therefore, even if the plastic-eating bacteria Williams extracted from sewage were improved, it would be difficult to meet the requirements.
To produce it industrially in large quantities, he must use commonly used genetically engineered enzymes.
Only in this way can it be cheap enough and low enough to be manufactured on a large scale under existing production conditions.
"Escherichia coli, Bacillus and the like are often used in industry to manufacture various enzyme preparations, organic acids, amino acids, etc. You can consider it."
"Actinomycetes are commonly used, but they are mainly used to produce a variety of antibiotics. They are not suitable for enzyme preparations such as super enzyme. Exclude it!"
"Yeast is mainly used in the production of enzyme preparations in the fields of food, medicine and feed. Exclude it!"
"As for the last type of mold, they are also widely used in the production of enzyme preparations. They can be candidates."
"Let's start with the most common bacilli genetically engineered enzymes."
Williams was silent, and after careful consideration, he focused on E. coli and Bacillus.
E. coli is a common gastrointestinal bacterium that has lived in a love-and-kill symbiosis with humans for many years, but its role goes beyond that.
It is a model organism favored by scientists. It has repeatedly made extraordinary achievements and is known as the "star of the laboratory." It is the protagonist of six Nobel Prize projects and has made outstanding contributions to establishing the scientific status of genetics.
But its biggest legend began with artificial insulin, which took off in the burgeoning field of genetic engineering.
In the past, humans could only extract insulin from the pancreas of cows and pigs to treat diabetic patients, but the output was very small.
The output of one cow is not enough for a patient's daily use. This primitive method is obviously outdated, so scientists focus on the cute little E. coli.
Insulin is a protein macromolecule hormone that is produced from living cells. Why can humans and cattle produce it but bacteria cannot?
So scientists combined the human insulin gene with the DNA of E. coli. The human insulin gene directed the E. coli cells to produce human insulin.
As it reproduces, the insulin gene is passed on from generation to generation, and future generations of E. coli can also produce insulin.
This kind of bacteria with artificially given new genetic traits is called genetically engineered bacteria.
People put genetically engineered bacteria carrying human insulin genes into large fermentation tanks, provide them with appropriate conditions and nutrients, and conduct artificial culture. They can reproduce in large quantities and produce large amounts of human insulin.
In this way, E. coli becomes a living factory for producing insulin.
Soon, this little cutie, who works hard and is rubbed by others, will become a living factory for the production of super enzymes.
Williams first extracted the genes related to degrading plastic from the original plastic-eating bacteria.
It is then recombined with E. coli DNA.
Try to make it produce super enzyme.
However, it soon failed.
A super enzyme is an assembly of three separate enzymes and is difficult to produce from a single gene.
Even if three enzymes are produced separately, it is difficult to automatically assemble them together in bacteria.
"Damn it, it all failed."
"Khan, I thought too simply."
After failing many times, Williams wiped the sweat from his forehead and finally came to his senses.
It’s useless to just modify super enzymes; you also have to modify native plastic-eating bacteria.
Only when native bacteria can directly produce super enzymes can the relevant genes be extracted and assembled into E. coli.
So, he called Wenrenlong again and re-carried out mathematical modeling based on the laboratory's microbial big data.
This time, the genes of native bacteria were modified so that they could directly produce super enzymes.
Modeling predictions on a computer is obviously much faster than trying them one by one in the laboratory.
After many attempts, the two finally extracted the gene fragment that produces the super enzyme.
The rest of the work went smoothly.
Williams successfully grafted the genes related to super enzymes into E. coli and obtained a living microbial factory that can produce super enzymes.
"yeah!"
The two clapped their hands excitedly in celebration.
If it weren't for the experimental bench in the middle, we almost hugged each other excitedly.
During this period of work, it was almost a waste of sleep and food. The two of them ate together and slept together - the folding bed in the office.
The relationship developed by leaps and bounds, and a deep fighting friendship was formed.
Especially after learning that Williams had applied for Chinese citizenship, Wen Renlong looked at him with admiration, and his past prejudices disappeared.
After a brief celebration, the two of them walked arm-in-arm on the way to report to their boss.
Wen Renlong suddenly slapped his forehead, remembered something, and asked: "Dawei, it's the end of December, it's almost New Year's Day. I remember that the Nobel Prize ceremony was held at the beginning of the month. Didn't you go?" ?Did they cancel the peace prize given to you?"
Williams smiled lightly: "I didn't go. I was afraid of being secretly killed by my old employer, so I paid a friend to accept the award on my behalf. She has a normal relationship with me, but for the sake of the generous remuneration, I still went. ”
"I have already received the bonus. As for the trophy, she will mail it to me. It is 80% on the way."
"This move is good, awesome!" Wen Renlong gave a thumbs up and praised.
"Yes, if they hadn't accepted people from Sanqing to receive the award, I would have actually wanted someone from the overseas branch to go there."
Williams lamented: "The prize has to be divided among three people, which is not much in the first place. I feel a little heartbroken when I think about giving a sum of money to my friends."
"Come on, Dawei, with this super enzyme, will you still be short of money in the future?" Wen Renlong laughed.
"How do you say this?"
Wen Renlong explained the dividend policy in detail and encouraged: "As long as you continue to develop new products, the microbiology laboratory will become independent sooner or later. By then you will be the director, and you will be able to distribute a large sum of money in dividends every year. The money will be endless." .”
Williams' face turned red with excitement, he rubbed his hands and said, "Great, with a few more super enzymes, I guess I will be rich and free soon."
Not long after, the two stood in front of Wei Kang.
Williams handed over the experimental report as if he was offering a treasure, with a smile on his face: "Boss, the super enzyme has been successfully developed, and the mass production technology has also been developed. All goals have been successfully achieved."
Wei Kang sat at his desk and carefully browsed the detailed experimental data, nodding with satisfaction as he read.
"It's great. The two of you have joined forces and are really powerful. This super enzyme will definitely become a top product in the microbiology laboratory."
"However, I have a few additional comments. Do you want to consider it?" Wei Kang asked with a smile.
The two looked at each other with confusion in their eyes, and their hearts sank at the same time.
Did the boss see something wrong?
While feeling uneasy, Wei Kang muttered: "Have you ever considered the application of super enzymes in the medical field?"
Williams hesitated for a moment and said cautiously.
"Although there have been reports that microplastic particles have been detected in human blood, there have been no examples of major health hazards to the human body, so in the field of medicine, the super enzyme may not be used yet."
"Haha, you misunderstood." Wei Kang chuckled and explained, "I'm not talking about medicines, but health care products."
"Health products?" The two looked confused.
"Yes, modern people eat a variety of takeaways, milk tea, and bottled water every day. Over time, it is easy to accumulate some microplastic particles in the body. If you want to say it is harmful, it is definitely harmful to health, but if you want to say it is a Is it a disease? It’s still a little far away, and it won’t cause illness right away.”
Wei Kang talked eloquently: "But if things go on like this, the damage to the human body will definitely gradually deepen, and it may even cause inflammation and accumulate in the body's organs. So for the sake of health, can we take some preventive health products? What about taking super enzymes every day to remove microplastic particles from the body to stay healthy?"
"And, as you know, there is a lot of plastic garbage in the ocean, which seriously affects the survival of marine life."
"I have watched a documentary. Many marine creatures have been seriously injured by accidentally eating plastic. Not only do they have many plastic particles in their bodies, but there are often plastics stuck in their bodies that cannot be removed, leading to life-threatening injuries."
“So I think that to some extent, super enzymes will have a wide range of applications. In addition to industrial sites such as garbage disposal, they can also be taken by animals, including humans, to remove plastic pollution from the body and maintain good health. .”
"What do you think about this?"
Williams' eyes suddenly lit up: "The boss is indeed a boss. His business acumen is much better than ours. He will not let go of any opportunity. Even if there is no opportunity, he must create new opportunities. This point, I must learn from my boss."
Wen Renlong also nodded repeatedly, lost in thought: "Yes, animals and people also need to take super enzymes to degrade microplastic particles in the body. Why didn't I think of it? Health care products, what a golden idea."
"Okay, I will arrange personnel to conduct experiments with the waste treatment plant first to see how it works on the ground, and then carry out subsequent development. I will leave the business matters to the company."
