Team:ETH Zurich/Overview



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Welcome to the ETH Zurich iGEM Wiki, the web site is under heavy reconstruction so please be patient if most of the links are not available.

Project Abstract
Make yourself simpler, stupid! Or how engineering a self-minimizing cell leads to the Minimal Genome "This year's ETH Zurich project tackles a fundamental problem of synthetic biology: the minimal genome. Exploring the minimal set of genes that is able to support life is not only a question of significant biological interest, it is also a crucial step towards the implementation of orthogonal functionalities into a rationally designed complex biological system. An organism carrying a minimal genome would provide a simple chassis for biological engineering. We attempted to exploit the power of accelerated evolution for a genome reduction strategy. Our approach is base on an iterative cycle of genome reduction and strain selection. We propose a novel method to randomly delete chromosomal DNA fragments by controlled expression of restriction enzymes and ligases in vivo. Furthermore we develop a chemostat-based selective condition to select for cells with a smaller genome size by constraining nucleotide availability. Computationally, we analyze the genome for the optimal restriction enzyme, and perform flux balance analysis on a genome scale model to predict growth of reduced genome strains. Finally, we simulate the restriction enzyme expression and the progression of selection."

"Meet us" video



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