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Team:UQ-Australia/Project
From 2009.igem.org
Highlights
14 August 2009 Welcome to the lab!== Water Purification Project ==
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Project Description
Water contamination is a key environmental issue for many countries around the world, both developed and developing. In Queensland, Australia we have a particular problem with Mercury (Hg2+) contamination of water supplies around the major mining town of Mt Isa. After searching through the iGEM projects from previous years, the arsenic detection system inspired us. As the UQ 09' team we wish to take this idea one step further and completely remove Mercury from water systems.
To do this we will be utilizing a strain of Escherichia coli, and the already established mercury uptake, reduction and efflux system and making a few modifications. One of our aims is to couple the detection of Mercury to the expression of a native bacterial protein, Antigen 43 (AG43). This protein, when expressed, causes the bacteria to stick to one another. As the bacteria aggregate in clumps, they will fall to the bottom of the sample. Our idea is for the bacteria to take up the mercury, activating Ag43 expression, resulting in aggregation and the Mercury-filled bacteria will fall to the bottom leaving clean water.
There are a number of parts that we hope to add to the registry. The first is Ag43 as a protein coding sequence and the MerR promoter sequence. We will also add the completed mercury uptake and aggregation system as an operon.
Bioprecipitation Project
Project Description
The arid climate of Australia has become notorious for causing widespread problems for agricultural industries. That is, the scarcity of water hinders the production of crops and livestock, as well as forcing restrictions of daily water usage for households. Team UQ Australia aims to solve this problem through the use of a bio-precipitation technique, thus increasing the availability of our most precious resource.
Pseudomonas syringae is a common bacterium, primarily found in colder climates (optimally at 22°C), and is well known for its biological ice nucleation properties, i.e. the formation of rain/snow. However, the bacteria are unable to survive in environmental temperatures above 28°C. By introducing heat shock proteins (DnaK, DnaJ, GroEL, and GroES) through plasmid insertion, UQ Australia aims to increase the optimal growth temperature available to P.syringae, thereby allowing bio-precipitation to occur in warmer (and drought stricken) climates.
Ideally, UQ Australia will be contributing a number of parts to the registry. Firstly, a plasmid with DnaK, DnaJ, as well as an upstream promoter will drive the expression of these two genes. Secondly, an additional plasmid will carry the genes for GroEL and GroES, also complemented by an upstream promoter to drive gene expression.
