Descrizione del progetto
Fibre di cotone di colore naturale bioingegnerizzate per un’industria tessile più verde
Le fibre di cotone commerciali sono principalmente di varie tonalità di bianco, ma possono anche apparire di colore giallastro in seguito all’esposizione a cattive condizioni ambientali durante la crescita o lo stoccaggio. Questa decolorazione viene rimossa attraverso il candeggio, la colorazione e altri processi che comportano alti consumi di acqua e la produzione di effluenti pericolosi. Il progetto «Colour cotton», finanziato dall’UE, bioingegnerizzerà fibre di cotone di colore naturale e di alto valore ecologico abbassando l’espressione dei geni chiave nel percorso dei fenilpropanoidi per aumentare il candore delle fibre. Attraverso il riorientamento del flusso metabolico dal percorso dei fenilpropanoidi in un percorso di biosintesi della betaina espressa in maniera eterologa, i ricercatori progetteranno un nuovo cotone di colore naturale. I prodotti realizzati riducono significativamente l’impatto ambientale e rappresentano quindi una soluzione biotecnologica per un’industria tessile più ecologica.
Obiettivo
Cotton fibre is one of our most important textile resources. Most commercial cotton fibres are various shades of white but can be yellowish because of poor environmental conditions during growth or storage. A bleaching step is employed to address this issue during cotton fabric processing. After cotton fibre is spun into yarn, a dyeing process is applied to colour natural fibre to satisfy costumer’s demand. Additional industrial processes are needed to remove unfavourable natural colours and then add desirable colours to the yarn. Each step costs substantial amounts of energy but more importantly causes serious water and air pollution. More than 100 litres of water are required to dye one kilogram of cotton. The industrial effluents are rich in hazardous material. To address these issues, the proposed research will aim to bioengineer high value eco-friendly naturally coloured cotton fibre. Two overall strategies will be pursued. Firstly, by down-regulating key genes in the phenylpropanoid pathway, we aim to reduce fibre yellowish to increase fibre whiteness for the premium market. Second, by reorientating the metabolic flux from the phenylpropanoid pathway into a heterologously expressed betalain biosynthesis pathway, we aim to engineer novel natural colour cotton. The prospective products will significantly alleviate the environmental issues of the textile industry where 20% of global water pollution is produced and provide a biotechnological solution for a more environmentally friendly textile industry.
Campo scientifico
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcolors
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringsynthetic dyes
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologygenetic engineering
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringtextiles
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringair pollution engineering
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
CB2 1TN Cambridge
Regno Unito