Team:NTU-Singapore/Wetlab/Protocols

From 2008.igem.org

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I) MATERIALS:<br>
 
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1) Preparation of AI-2:<br>
 
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Pure AI-2 is very difficult to harvest or synthesize. However, as a quorum sensing messenger, AI-2 is present in intercellular medium at considerable amount. In this project, AI-2 was indirectly harvested by obtaining cell supernatants at different time points of cell growth. Glucose was added to the growth medium as it promotes AI-2 production significantly (Liang Wang, 2005).
 
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A colony of E. coli W3110 was grown overnight in LB for 16 hours at 37 oC. The overnight culture was then diluted in LB plus 0.8% glucose to an optical density at 600 nm (OD600) of 0.02. The cells were incubated at 37oC with shaking at 225 rpm in 500ml Erlenmeyer flask. Cell aliquots were removed at each time point for measurement of the OD600. The measured values were shown in the following table:
 
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{|border="1"
 
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|Time (hrs)
 
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|OD of W3110
 
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|0
 
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|0.002
 
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|1
 
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|0.047
 
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|2
 
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|0.112
 
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|3
 
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|0.341
 
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|4
 
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|0.628
 
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|5
 
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|0.921
 
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|6
 
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|1.032
 
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|7
 
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|1.172
 
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|8
 
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|1.252
 
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|}
 
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Based on the data, a graph of OD600 versus time was constructed as below:
 
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[[Image:ODW3110.JPG]]<br>
 
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Maximal AI-2 production activity is typically observed during mid- to late exponential phase (Surette, 1998). Therefore, 4ml of samples corresponding to 2, 3, 3.333, 3.667, 4, 6 time points were collected and centrifuged at 13,200 rpm for 10 min in a microcentrifuge to separate cell pellets from supernatants.  Cleared supernatants were filtered using 0.2 µm pore size filters to remove unwanted big proteins. Supernatants were stored at -20oC.
 
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2) Bacteria strains and media:<br>
 
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Bacteria used in all the experiments were LuxS mutants derived from the wild type E coli strain W3110. By knocking out LuxS gene, the cells were unable to synthesize AI-2. As a result, lsrA promoter could only be induced in the presence of external AI-2 produced by other bacteria rather than the host cells. LuxS mutants were first made chemically competent in order to be able to take in biobrick plasmids during transformation.
 
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The media used for overnight growth of cells were Luria-Bertani broth (LB). Cells were diluted in M9 media to an OD600 of 1 before ready to be read under Fluorescence Microplate Reader or Absorbance reader.
 
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<br>
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1) Characterization of pLsrA -YFP:<br>
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3) Plasmid construction:<br>
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The successfully ligated plasmid with pLsrA-YFP gene was first transformed into chemically competent LuxS(-) cells. The next day, one colony of cell with pLsrA-YFP plasmid was inoculated in 5ml LBA for 16 hours at 37oC and shaked at 225 rpm.
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All the plasmids used were in the standard biobrick form as regulated by the Biobricks Registry at MIT.  
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Overnight cell culture was then centrifuged at 4000 rpm and 4oC for 10 minutes. The supernatant was discarded and cell pellets were re-suspended in 5ml of Ampicilin-containing M9 medium. The amount of M9 medium was adjusted until cell suspension had an OD600 of 1. The cell suspensions were then pipetted into 96-well microplate wells. This was followed by the adding of 50µl AI-2-containing supernatant into corresponding wells. There were 6 different supernatant solutions used, which correspond to the time points when they were obtained: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 hours.
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The plasmid containing plsrA-YFP was used for characterization of lsrA promoter, while plsrA-celE7-Terminator plasmid (detection system) aimed to show the lysis of cells when exposed to AI-2.
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There were 3 different negative control samples being used for this study. First control sample contained cell suspension only. Second control sample was cell suspension with 50µl pure water added. And as the supernatants also contain large amount of LB, cell suspension with 50µl LB added was also used as another control sample.
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{|border="1"
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YFP measurement was carried out by VICTOR 3 multilabel reader at excitation wavelength of 490 nm and emission wavelength of 535 nm. Data were automatically gathered every 10 minutes and temperature was set at 37oC.
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|Insert
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<br><br>
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|Vector
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2) OD600 measurement of pLsrA-Lysis-containing LuxS mutant upon addition of AI-2:<br>
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|Subparts
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One colony of LuxS(-) W3110 strain containing pLsrA-lysis plasmid was inoculated overnight in 50ml LB inside 250ml flask at 37 degrees C and 225rpm. After 16 hour inoculation, 0.5 ml of cell sample was diluted in 50ml fresh LB. Diluted cell sample was distributed into the wells of the black-96-well microplate with an amount of 200 µL per well.  
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|Name in Registry
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50µl AI-2-containing supernatant was added into corresponding wells initially (set 1) and 1 hour after incubated inside absorbance-meter (set 2). Five different supernatant solutions used, which correspond to the time points when they had been obtained during AI-2 preparation: 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 hours.
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Control samples included cell suspension alone; cell suspension with 50µl LB added initially (set 1) and after 1 hour incubation (set 2); cell suspension with 50µl water added initially (set 1) and after 1 hour incubation (set 2).
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|pLsrA-YFP  
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|pSB1A3 
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|BBa_K117002 <br> BBa_E0430
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|BBa_K117008
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|plsrA-celE7-Terminator
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|pSB1A3
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|BBa_K117002 <br> BBa_K117006
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|BBa_K117010
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4) Equipments:<br>
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- Victor 3 multilabel reader was used to measure RFU value of yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) using excitation filter of 490 nm and emission filter of 535 nm.
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- Absorbance-meter was used to measure OD600 values.
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Revision as of 13:20, 20 October 2008



1) Characterization of pLsrA -YFP:
The successfully ligated plasmid with pLsrA-YFP gene was first transformed into chemically competent LuxS(-) cells. The next day, one colony of cell with pLsrA-YFP plasmid was inoculated in 5ml LBA for 16 hours at 37oC and shaked at 225 rpm. Overnight cell culture was then centrifuged at 4000 rpm and 4oC for 10 minutes. The supernatant was discarded and cell pellets were re-suspended in 5ml of Ampicilin-containing M9 medium. The amount of M9 medium was adjusted until cell suspension had an OD600 of 1. The cell suspensions were then pipetted into 96-well microplate wells. This was followed by the adding of 50µl AI-2-containing supernatant into corresponding wells. There were 6 different supernatant solutions used, which correspond to the time points when they were obtained: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 hours. There were 3 different negative control samples being used for this study. First control sample contained cell suspension only. Second control sample was cell suspension with 50µl pure water added. And as the supernatants also contain large amount of LB, cell suspension with 50µl LB added was also used as another control sample. YFP measurement was carried out by VICTOR 3 multilabel reader at excitation wavelength of 490 nm and emission wavelength of 535 nm. Data were automatically gathered every 10 minutes and temperature was set at 37oC.

2) OD600 measurement of pLsrA-Lysis-containing LuxS mutant upon addition of AI-2:
One colony of LuxS(-) W3110 strain containing pLsrA-lysis plasmid was inoculated overnight in 50ml LB inside 250ml flask at 37 degrees C and 225rpm. After 16 hour inoculation, 0.5 ml of cell sample was diluted in 50ml fresh LB. Diluted cell sample was distributed into the wells of the black-96-well microplate with an amount of 200 µL per well. 50µl AI-2-containing supernatant was added into corresponding wells initially (set 1) and 1 hour after incubated inside absorbance-meter (set 2). Five different supernatant solutions used, which correspond to the time points when they had been obtained during AI-2 preparation: 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 hours.

Control samples included cell suspension alone; cell suspension with 50µl LB added initially (set 1) and after 1 hour incubation (set 2); cell suspension with 50µl water added initially (set 1) and after 1 hour incubation (set 2).