There is provided a transgenic animal comprising heterologous nucleic acid encoding a bacterial organomercurial lyase and/or a bacterial mercuric reductase, wherein the transgenic animal expresses the bacterial organomercurial lyase and/or a bacterial mercuric reductase to reduce the toxicity of a mercury compound.

The present disclosure provides a fungus and a microbial agent for treating mercury contamination, use thereof, a mercury removal method, and a method for identifying a fungus capable of treating mercury contamination, and relates to the technical field of biological mercury removal. The present disclosure provides a Metarhizium fungus and 8 species of non-Metarhizium fungi for treating mercury contamination, a method for identifying a fungus capable of treating mercury contamination, and enzymes for removing methylmercury and divalent mercury, which provides a genetic basis for treating mercury contamination with recombinant fungi or bacteria.

The present invention relates to an expression cassette encoding a fusion protein comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding an amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 or a fragment thereof, which directs protein decay, or encoding an amino acid sequence which is at least 60% identical to the amino acid sequence which directs protein decay; and also comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding a protein of interest, wherein the nucleotide sequences are fused together in frame. Further, the present invention relates to a vector comprising the expression cassette, a host cell comprising the expression cassette or a host cell comprising the vector which comprises the expression cassette. Additionally, the present invention relates to a method for the production of a triterpenoid using the host cell comprising the expression cassette of the present invention.

Described herein are anti-microbial and UV-protective biological devices and extracts produced therefrom. The biological devices include microbial cells transformed with a DNA construct containing genes for producing proteins such as, for example, zinc-related protein/oxidase, silicatein, silaffin, and alcohol dehydrogenase. In some instances, the biological devices also include a gene for lipase. Methods for producing and using the devices are also described herein. Finally, compositions and methods for using the devices and extracts to kill microbial species or prevent microbial growth and to reduce or prevent UV-induced damage or exposure to materials, items, plants, and human and animal subjects are described herein. Also disclosed are biological devices producing polyactive carbohydrates and carbo sugars, as well as compositions and articles incorporating both extracts from these devices and the anti-microbial and UV-protective extracts.

Described herein are anti-microbial and UV-protective biological devices and extracts produced therefrom. The biological devices include microbial cells transformed with a DNA construct containing genes for producing proteins such as, for example, zinc-related protein/oxidase, silicatein, silaffin, and alcohol dehydrogenase. In some instances, the biological devices also include a gene for lipase. Methods for producing and using the devices are also described herein. Finally, compositions and methods for using the devices and extracts to kill microbial species or prevent microbial growth and to reduce or prevent UV-induced damage or exposure to materials, items, plants, and human and animal subjects are described herein. Also disclosed are biological devices producing polyactive carbohydrates and carbo sugars, as well as compositions and articles incorporating both extracts from these devices and the anti-microbial and UV-protective extracts.

Provided is a new CueO mutant with improved activity compared with wild-type CueO. The protein according to one or more embodiments of the present invention contains an amino acid sequence [1] or [2] and has laccase activity: [1] an amino acid sequence containing at least a region of positions 29-516 in SEQ ID NO: 14 with mutations (a) and (b): (a) a substitution of D360 with an amino acid other than D; and (b) one or more selected from a substitution of G304 with an amino acid other than G, a substitution of D373 with an amino acid other than D, and a substitution of Q374 with an amino acid other than Q; or [2] an amino acid sequence 90% or more identical to the sequence [1], and having residues corresponding to positions 360, 304, 373, and 374 of SEQ ID NO: 14 identical to those of the sequence [1].

The present invention generally relates to methods of biological reduction of metal-cyanide complexes after metal-cyanidation and methods of biologically hydrolysing cyanide. More particularly, the present invention allows the engineering of an integrated synthetic lixiviant biological system to be housed within a synthetic host (such as the cyanogenic Chromobacterium violaceum) for efficient precious metal recovery and toxic metal remediation of electronic waste; with up to four main components/modules in the design and engineering of the synthetic host: 1) synthetic cyanogenesis; 2) synthetic metal recovery; 3) synthetic cyanolysis; and 4) synthetic circuits for lixiviant biology. Bacteria capable of reducing ionic metal to ionic metal (such as gold or silver) as nanoparticles, comprising mercury(11) reductase (MerA) comprising a substitution mutation at position V317, Y441, C464, A323D, A414E, G415I, E416C, L417I, I418D, or A422N, are also disclosed. Processes of synthetic cyanide lixiviant production using genetically engineered bacterium transformed with a heterologous hydrogen cyanide synthase gene and a heterologous 3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase mutant gene are also disclosed. Processes of synthetic cyanolysis using a genetically engineered bacterium transformed with a heterologous nitrilase gene are also disclosed.