Latest revision as of 02:49, 22 October 2009

Our machine!

The Encapsulator

A key challenge in metabolic engineering is to improve productivity and yield. Potential applications range from the production of valuable compounds such as therapeutic molecules and biofuels to the degradation of toxic wastes. There is increasing recognition that spatial organization can play an important role in optimizing pathway efficiency. Specifically, the spatial co-localization of consecutive enzymes in a pathway can result in efficient translocation of substrates between enzymes, an effect known as enzyme "channeling". Here we report the design, modeling and construction of a bacterial micro-organelle based system for the targeted co-localization of selected enzymes. Our "Encapsulator" represents a fundamentally new class of parts which, in nature consist of metabolic enzymes encased within a multi-protein shell reminiscent of a viral capsid. Micro-compartments based on encapsulin (and similar proteins) represent an experimentally amenable system to investigate the effects of channeling in potential downstream applications.

Collaborations

We are proud to support our colleagues in València!

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-[[image:top(nolink).png]]
+[[image:Top(nolink).png]]
-{| style="color:#FFFFFF;background-color:#99CCFF;" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" border="1" width="70%" align="center"
+{| style="color:white;background-color:#99CCFF;" height:100px cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%" align="center" class="menu"
 !align="center"|[[Team:TorontoMaRSDiscovery|Home]]
 !align="center"|[[Team:TorontoMaRSDiscovery/Team|The Team]]
 !align="center"|[[Team:TorontoMaRSDiscovery/Project|The Project]]
-!align="center"|[[Team:TorontoMaRSDiscovery/Parts|Parts Submitted to the Registry]]
+!align="center"|[[Team:TorontoMaRSDiscovery/Parts|BioBricks]]
-!align="center"|[[Team:TorontoMaRSDiscovery/Modeling|Modeling]]
+!align="center"|[[Team:TorontoMaRSDiscovery/Modeling|Modelling]]
 !align="center"|[[Team:TorontoMaRSDiscovery/Bioinformatics|Bioinformatics]]
+!align="center"|[[Team:TorontoMaRSDiscovery/Safety|Safety]]
 !align="center"|[[Team:TorontoMaRSDiscovery/Notebook|Notebook]]
 |}
 <br>
+[[image:Team_logo_encapsulator.png|thumb|Our machine!]]
 =The Encapsulator=
+A key challenge in metabolic engineering is to improve productivity and yield.  Potential applications range from the production of valuable compounds such as therapeutic molecules and biofuels to the degradation of toxic wastes.  There is increasing recognition that spatial organization can play an important role in optimizing pathway efficiency.  Specifically, the spatial co-localization of consecutive enzymes in a pathway can result in efficient translocation of substrates between enzymes, an effect known as enzyme "channeling".  Here we report the design, modeling and construction of a bacterial micro-organelle based system for the targeted co-localization of selected enzymes.  Our "Encapsulator" represents a fundamentally new class of parts which, in nature consist of metabolic enzymes encased within a multi-protein shell reminiscent of a viral capsid.  Micro-compartments based on encapsulin (and similar proteins) represent an experimentally amenable system to investigate the effects of channeling in potential downstream applications.
-===Objectives===
+=Sponsored by:=
+<gallery>
-#Design, construct and characterize a micro-compartment expression system in E. coli.
+Image:Cagef_logo.jpg|Center for Analysis of Genome Evolution and Function
-#Demonstrate in vivo assembly of the expressed micro-compartments.
+Image:Skule-small.jpg|University of Toronto Engineering Society
-#Target a fluorescent marker (eCFP) to the micro-compartment.
+Image:skule-alumni-small.JPG|Engineering Society Alumni
-#Identify and prioritize candidate enzyme pairs for channeling.
+Image:CGPGBB_seqlogo_text.png|Collaborative Graduate Program in Genome Biology and Bioinformatics
-#Apply channeling to selected enzyme pairs.
+</gallery>
-[[image:MarsMedal(small).png|right|frame|We are proud to support our colleagues in Valencia!]]
+=Collaborations=
+[[image:MarsMedal(small).png|left|frame|We are proud to support our colleagues in València!]]