【Frontiers in HaiChuan Chemical Technology】New Methods for Degrading Complex Organic Pollutants Developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Others

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New method for degrading complex organic pollutants May 13, 2025: Shanghai Jiao Tong University and other institutions have made progress in the field of environmental microbial technology. Engineered Vibrio halophilus strains created using synthetic biology can degrade various organic pollutants simultaneously in high-salt industrial wastewater and high-salt soils, providing a technical solution to problems such as the discharge of petrochemical wastewater and marine oil spills. The relevant research findings were published online in Nature on May 7. 　　It is reported that complex organic pollution incidents such as industrial wastewater discharge and marine crude oil leaks pose a serious threat to ecological and environmental safety. Through long-term genetic mutations and natural selection, some microorganisms capable of using pollutants as “food” have gradually evolved in the natural environment. Using the catabolic capabilities of these microorganisms to treat organic pollutants in the environment offers advantages such as low cost and environmental friendliness. However, existing natural strains have a narrow \"menu\" and can only degrade one or a few types of pollutants, making it impossible for them to carry out bioremediation of complex organic pollutants in actual pollution scenarios. 　　To overcome this challenge, the research team developed efficient natural transformation methods and genomic iterative editing techniques. These allow for the precise insertion of long DNA sequences at specific locations in the genome of host cells, and the iterative approach enables the repeated insertion of new DNA sequences, thereby enabling continuous modification of the same strain. After multiple rounds of iterative editing, the research team obtained the strain VCOD-15 capable of degrading 5 typical organic pollutants, and conducted simulated application tests. The results showed that in high-salt wastewater from petroleum refining plants and chlor-alkali plants, this strain could purify five organic pollutants present simultaneously in just 2 days.