Opda is an organophosphate-degrading enzyme from Agrobacterium radiobacter. It is capable of degrading a wide range of organophosphates, most notably pesticides that are poisonous to humans, such as paraoxon. We chose to biobrick this enzyme for a number of reasons. First and foremost, this enzyme is easy to assay for since it can hydrolyze substrates (e.g. paraoxon) and form a bright yellow product. This yellow product would make it easy to see that the Opda was present and functioning in our system. And secondly, Opda is a very useful enzyme that could have applications in future iGEM and other synthetic biology projects, so its presence in the Standard Registry of Biological Parts is beneficial.
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