Team:Kyoto/Project

Project Description

In many biotechnological contexts, bacterial cells are considered as "chemical facilities." A number of studies have genetically engineered cells to produce various desired compounds. They further aim at accurate and precise regulation of material production. Cells are also power suppliers in terms of their motility. This aspect, however, has been much less featured. Here comes our project, which started with the gigantic goals of lifting up the Titanic from the deep-sea with bacterial power. Toward our general goal – to engineer cells to carry larger order of objects – we have been designing and constructing cells so that these micro-order entities can move a centimeter or larger objects. We have equipped E. coli with the functions of attachment to an object surface, cell density dependent buoyancy production, and regulatable flagella and examined by quantitating the parameters to what extent our goal is achieved. Our study presents the possibility of bacterial physical power.

Systems

Our E. coli machine has mainly these 3 functions.