Team:Sheffield

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Revision as of 00:10, 9 September 2009 by Kirubhakaran (Talk | contribs)
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SWITCHED ON !!!

Hello there, be my guest as I give you a quick peep at my team. It all started in early July when all interested candidates were asked to gather up for a meeting regarding iGEM and eventually 7 students showed up. As time passed by the number decreased exponentially and now we are left with 3 team members. And may I not officially but rationally declare us as the smallest iGEM team for 2009. That does not mean we are any weaker as each member’s workmanship, enthusiasm and self believe cannot be doubted but driven towards a successful iGEM team.


Project Description

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By modifying E.coli so that it can use a phytochrome- with a light receptor- from cyanobacteria as a trigger of protein generation. This pathway is controlled by a certain wavelength of red light, acting as a system switch for lacZ production. LacZ can react with substrate X-gal and form a blue precipitate as a reporter. However, other reporter genes can be attached to the lacZ gene, so different reporters can be expressed. From the fact that this mechanism is sensitive to a certain wavelength of light, we hope to create a system that can be sensitive to various wavelengths and hence triggering different protein generation. Through this the E.coli can become a wavelength sensor; a different wavelength can trigger a different production of protein, for example various types of fluorescent protein, giving a different a colour-scaled indication of the wavelength of the environment around the E.coli.

Our aim is to design an E.coli system that is sensitive to multiple wavelengths of light and therefore produce a colour indication of the specific wavelength it is exposed to. A pictorial description is shown below: