Team:Virginia/Project

From 2008.igem.org

(Difference between revisions)
m
Line 81: Line 81:
<div class="pagebox" id=ga>
<div class="pagebox" id=ga>
<h3>Genetic Attenuator</h3>
<h3>Genetic Attenuator</h3>
-
<p>Getting in control of transcription.</p>
+
<p>Transcriptional attenuation is a very promising new tool for the specification and control of genetic transcription rates.  The basic mechanism is simple: stop some fraction of the polymerases before they reach the desired gene to reduce transcription (and thereby translation) of the gene.  Natural terminators already serve this role in their capacity to prevent transcription of undesired DNA, but a heretofore untapped resource is the potential inefficiency of this termination.  For instance, imagine a terminator that interrupts only 50% of the polymerases transcribing it.  If placed between two genes, this will result in 100% more copies of mRNA corresponding to the first gene than the second in the total transcript output.  Without any sophisticated empirical testing and tuning (as is often required for promoter engineering), using a tool directly out of the BioBrick toolbox, an accurate and reliable ratio of gene transcription can been established.</p>
<span>&nbsp;</span>
<span>&nbsp;</span>
</div>
</div>

Revision as of 02:55, 30 October 2008


Home
People
Projects »
BioBricks
Results
Notebook
Locations of visitors to this page
We'd like to thank our generous sponsors for making our work possible:
University of VirginiaduPont

Projects

Genetic Attenuator

Transcriptional attenuation is a very promising new tool for the specification and control of genetic transcription rates. The basic mechanism is simple: stop some fraction of the polymerases before they reach the desired gene to reduce transcription (and thereby translation) of the gene. Natural terminators already serve this role in their capacity to prevent transcription of undesired DNA, but a heretofore untapped resource is the potential inefficiency of this termination. For instance, imagine a terminator that interrupts only 50% of the polymerases transcribing it. If placed between two genes, this will result in 100% more copies of mRNA corresponding to the first gene than the second in the total transcript output. Without any sophisticated empirical testing and tuning (as is often required for promoter engineering), using a tool directly out of the BioBrick toolbox, an accurate and reliable ratio of gene transcription can been established.

 

Placeholder Sites

Cloning made easy!

 

BioPlastic

Making plastic a renewable resource.

 

Adding to the Registry

More tools in the toolbox.