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METU-gene/Brainstorming
From 2009.igem.org
BACTERIAFLOW
In this Project , our purpose is to modify Caulobacter crescentus in a way that it becomes sensitive to the speed of flowing liquid. By constructing this project , anything related to environment can be proved to have effects on organisms. Nowadays, some articles are published about the nanogenerators which convert mechanical energy from body movement, muscle stretching or water flow into electricity (Science; April 2009). According to Zhong Lin Wang, a Regents Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, “There is a lot of mechanical energy available in our environment. Our nanogenerators can convert this mechanical energy to electrical energy. This could potentially open up a lot of possibilities for the future of nanotechnology.” This gives us the idea that these water flow calculations in microsystems may be challenging and requires much time. Our designed bacteria can proceed these calculations for us, show the results by changing colour and disappear from our system without harming the environment they are placed.
Our Project comprimises 6 different pathways;
1. Attachment: We think solving the problem of attachment by using the Caulobacter crescentus. This bacteria synthesize unique glue (N-Acetylglucoseamine) which is relatively more effective than the human made glues. Moreover, although this glue is much stronger than the other glues, it can be removed by some genetic processes.
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2. Normal Conditions: In our system, in normal conditions (normal pressure), the GFP will be released. We will proceed this function by embedding the GFP protein in the domains of transmembrane proteins. Therefore, we can identify our bacteria in normal conditions.
3. High Pressure: When the speed of water slows down, the pressure on our bacteria will increase and it will induce RFP synthesis in our system. Moreover, the increase in pressure will also inhibit the release of GFP in our system
4. Low Pressure: When the speed of water increases, the pressure lowers down very much. This will induce the osmosis from bacteria to the system. The release of water from our bacteria will cause the protein concentration to increase. Increasing concentration of protein will be inhibited by repressors. At this point, we will either identify YFP gene on our repressors or introduce them to the region which close to the inhibited region of the plasmid. Moreover, in 2nd system we have to introduce some TFs and repressors for GFP. By this way, our system produces yellow color in response to low pressure
5. Lysis: We will introduce 3 lambda genes of lysis. By this way, when our procedure finishes, we can get rid of bacteria.
6. Protective layer: In order to proceed from strict osmosis factors, we will add dexb gene on our plasmid. By this way, our bacteria‘s ability will be strengthened to osmotic stress by added dextran protein.
COLORSENSE
Converting light to colored substance and showing this response accordingly to motion is our major purpose. By this way, we can measure the wavelength interval at the exposed light. Moreover, the properties at light depend on its wavelength. By knowing the wavelength interval, we can utilize light in many reactions as ON/OFF switch. In this system, the ON mechanism will be dependent on motile activities (repellent synthesis)
Our system includes 2 different mechanisms
1. In the 1st mechanism, our system will be activated by visible light electromagnetic radiation such as blue, red and green light. This activation will initiate formation of colored substance. For example, when red light exposes on bacterial culture, this culture will start red color substance synthesis.
2. In the 2nd mechanism, the increasing light causes other 2 types of bacterial cultures to produce certain chemical repellants to initiate color forming remaining bacteria culture. To illustrate, blue light exposure causes red and green substance synthesizing bacteria to release the chemical substances which involves repellants. Those repellants contribute formation of layers in subsequent area of bacteria culture.
