Team:Alberta

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University of Alberta - BioBytes










































































































BioBytes

Team BioBytes is the University of Alberta's 2009 International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) team. This year's iGEM project can be subdivided into two major efforts. The first and most important of which is the BioBytes chromosome assembly system. This system refers to a mechanism for rapid and reliable construction of plasmids (i.e.: artificial gene sets) in vitro. The second, the minimal genome project, refers to the ultimate goal of rapid and reliable DNA assembly, that is, the construction of an artificial E. coli chromosome. Furthermore, it includes the strategy of gene selection, arrangement, artificial chromosome insertion and the destruction of the host's chromosome.

The Minimal Genome Project

The minimal E. coli genome has been a holy grail of biology for a number of years. E. coli is the most widely used cellular research tool by the molecular biology community. Since scientific research is based upon reductionism and simplification for understanding, a simplified version of an experimental model organism such as E. coli is, in principle, preferred as a chassis for experimentation. To reduce the E. coli genome to roughly 10% its original size shows a great simplification of this model organism.

To create such an organism, we plan on building an artificial E. coli chromosome using the BioBytes chromosome assembly system and inserting it into living E. coli. We then intend to remove the host chromosome by making it incapable of division. This allows only the artificial, inserted chromosome to propagate through multiple generations as the cells grow and divide. This is markedly different than the current, time-consuming method of knocking out inessential genes, one at a time, in an effort to produce the minimal genome. It is this difference that we hope to exploit in our attempt to win the race to produce the minimal E. coli genome.