Team:Edinburgh

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Welcome to Edinburgh 2009 team wiki!

Trinitrotoluene (TNT, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene) is a yellow-coloured solid chemical compound widely used in explosives and medicine. Due to its very convenient handling properties TNT was widely used and in lots of regions is still being used as the main chemical for explosives preparation. TNT is more stable than dynamite, its melting point is much lower than temperature needed for detonation and it is insensitive to shock and friction. As a result of those factors, TNT became the main explosive compound for many years. As a result of TNT being the main explosive; military testing grounds, huge areas near TNT production factories and other areas with intensive usage of TNT (mines, construction points) are highly poisoned and this contamination is hard and expensive to remedy. Small numbers of bacteria appear to degrade TNT to some extent and biological solution can turn out to be much more effective way of TNT degradation than any currently existing ways (physical) of solving this problem. A further advantage of this would be a mechanism for detecting the TNT in the soil. After considering all facts mentioned above, our team decided to work on these problems and we will try to provide biological and possibly more effective solutions to given problems compared to currently existing ones.
iGem Team