Screening of a Rhodococcus Cosmid Library, via Gene Homology, to Identify Novel Genes Associated with the Bioconversion of Indene to Indandiol

Non-Scientific Abstract Throughout the past decade, AIDS has become one of the most threatening and prevalent diseases in America. As the number of patients suffering from the potentially fatal disease increases, so does the demand for different types of drug therapy. One of the more successful therapies is Crixivan, a drug produced by MERCK. Although highly effective at slowing the spread of AIDS in the body, it is incredibly difficult and expensive to synthesize in the lab, and thus is hard to obtain at a reasonable price. Alternate means have been employed to solve this problem, the most successful being the genetic engineering of bacteria to produce certain key components for the synthesis of Crixivan. It has been shown that the bacterium Rhodococcus erythropolis I24 can convert molecules of indene to indandiol, a key ingredient in the making of Crixivan. However, the actual gene or genes responsible for this process are still unknown. We sought to identify any and all genes related to this pathway, so that they can be utilized to help speed up the production of Crixivan, and lower the cost of AIDS drug therapy across the nation.