USA as Represented by Secretary of the Navy

The United States of America as Represented by the Secretary of

Mehran Pazirandeh

Alok Singh

Paul E Schoen

Michael A Markowitz

J Matthew Mauro

James R Campbell

Enzymes are modified by incorporating anchor sites for linking the enzymes to a target surface without destroying the catalytic activity of the enzymes. A stable carrier to accommodate and bind the selected enzyme is constructed, and the enzyme is non-covalently linked to the carrier, generally through metal salts of iminodiacetate.

Passivation of nerve agents by surface modified enzymes stabilized by non-covalent immobilization on robust, stable particles

A gene coding for the expression of metallothionein is incorporated into an xpression vehicle for expressing the metallothionein gene into the periplasmic space of a bacterium including the expression vehicle. It may also be possible to incorporate multiple copies of the metallothionein gene within a single bacterium. One typical expression vehicle is a p-MalP plasmid constructed to include the metallothionein gene. Using this expression vehicle, one can induce bacteria, such as transformed E. coli, to express metallothionein into the periplasmic space as a fusion product with, for example, the maltose-binding protein. Killed cell that have expressed metallothionein into the periplasmic space may then be attached to a solid support. The resulting device may be used to remove heavy metals from aqueous media.

Bacteria expressing metallothionein gene into the periplasmic space, and

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Silver Spring, MD, United States of America

Mehran Pazirandeh