Team:KULeuven/Abstract

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Latest revision as of 12:42, 8 September 2009

Vanilla Perfume, the story of a self-regulating bacterium

‘Essencia coli’ is a vanillin producing bacterium equipped with a control system that keeps the concentration of vanillin at a constant level. The showpiece of the project is the feedback mechanism. Vanillin synthesis is initiated by irradiation with blue light. The preferred concentration can be modulated using the intensity of that light. At the same time the bacterium measures the amount of vanillin outside the cell and controls its production to maintain the set point. The designed system is universal in nature and has therefore potential benefits in different areas. The concept can easily be applied to other flavours and odours. In fact, any application that requires a constant concentration of a molecular substance is possible.

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 {{Team:KULeuven/Common/BeginHeader}}
-{{Team:KULeuven/Common/SubMenu_Project}}
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+__NOTOC__
-= Essencia Coli =
+== Vanilla Perfume, the story of a self-regulating bacterium ==
-[[Image:Mssbluevanilla.jpg|right|thumb|425px|Schematic illustration of the setup for controlling concetration of molecule 'X']]
-The main idea is to synthesize a molecule 'X' and at the same time measure the concentration of this molecule outside the cell in order to keep the concentration constant. This concentration can then be modulated using light intensity. This creates a controll system with feedback from the outside concentration of molecule 'X'.
-For proof of concept the molecule 'X' is set to be vanillin, in principle this can be any molecule as long as it can be synthesized and a receptor is available. The light receptor will activate transcription of A on irradiation of blue light which should stimulate synthesis of Vanillin. The concentration vanillin outside the cell is measured with a vanillin receptor this will result in transcription of B and will block the actions of A. The activation of synthesis by A and the inhibition by B is done by a key/lock setup. The translation of the Vanillin synthesizing proteins need a key in order to translate, A will provide the key. Therefore upon irradiation of blue light the required proteins will be translated. B, however, will be an anti-sense mRNA of A, blocking the actions of the key. Thus if the concentration of vanillin increases the synthesis of vanillin-synthesizing proteins will decrease untill it stops completely.
+‘''Essencia coli''’ is a vanillin producing bacterium equipped with a control system that keeps the concentration of vanillin at a constant level. The showpiece of the project is the feedback mechanism. Vanillin synthesis is initiated by irradiation with blue light. The preferred concentration can be modulated using the intensity of that light. At the same time the bacterium measures the amount of vanillin outside the cell and controls its production to maintain the set point. The designed system is universal in nature and has therefore potential benefits in different areas. The concept can easily be applied to other flavours and odours. In fact, any application that requires a constant concentration of a molecular substance is possible.
-The complete setup with the corresponding biobricks can be seen on below
-[[Image:Missbluevanilla.jpg|center|thumb|400px|Overview of the system with corresponding biobricks]]
-=Biobricks=
-all the parts we are planning on using/making:
-[[Image:key.png|thumb|center|Ribokey controlled by blue light receptor]]
-the ribokey controlled by the blue light receptor
-[[Image:synthese.png|thumb|center|Vanillasynthesis with ribolock]]
-Vanillinsynthesis with ribolock in front.
-[[Image:receptor.png|thumb|center|Vanillin receptor]]
-[[Image:antikey.png|thumb|center|Antikey]]
-Antikey that is produced when the vanillin concentration reaches high levels.
-== to be constructed ==
-<partinfo>BB_J23066 Icon</partinfo>
-<partinfo>BB_B0015 Icon</partinfo>