Analysis

Genes of the Color Pathway

The enzymes necessary to produce colored Escherichia coli colonies will be isolated from E. coli genomic DNA and Saccharomyces cerevisiae cDNA. A total of eight enzymes are needed to produce FPP, after that we will make use of BioBrick [http://partsregistry.org/Part:BBa_I742152 I742152] and [http://partsregistry.org/Part:BBa_I742161 I742161] to make sure colonies will turn red. Other colors (orange and yellow also see the [http://parts.mit.edu/igem07/index.php/Edinburgh/Yoghurt/Wet_Lab Edinburgh 2007 wiki]) can be produced by adding other enzymes. Of the eight enzymes we will isolate three are E. coli enzymes (atoB, idi and ispA), while the other five are S. cerevisiae enzymes (ERG8, ERG12, ERG13, MVD1 and HMG2).

The first gradient PCR have been performed on the genes, the E. coli genes all worked correctly (see lab notebook entry of August 19th), while still some work has to be done on the S. cerevisiae primers (August 20th). The next step will be to PCR the E. coli genes again, with the ideal annealing temperature, using Pfx polymerase instead of Taq. The Pfx enzyme has proofreading and so is less likely to make a mistake within the genes. The gradient PCR on S. cerevisiae cDNA will be repeated and optimized.

Parts Design

To see all parts we are working on [http://partsregistry.org/cgi/partsdb/pgroup.cgi?pgroup=iGEM2008&group=TUDelft click here]. All parts with number BB_K115050 and higher are the parts involved in color synthesis.

As we need to drain FPP constantly (FPP is toxic to the cell in high concentrations), the idea is to produce a color at all temperatures. We want to express the enzymes of the FPP producing pathway constitutively, independent of temperature. There is a need however to 'tune' this expression to the consumption of the color pathway. In practice this means the eight enzymes necessary for FPP production will be expressed in one operon under the same promotor. However, how strong the promotor and ribosome binding site need to be will have to be determined experimentally. The color enzymes (from FPP to lycopene, B-carotene and zeaxanthianin) will be expressed seperately and under regulation of the RNA temperature sensitive elements. As we will obtain three colors, this would mean two switches, for instance at 27 and 37ºC. Lycopene production can be induced constitutively, just like FPP production. This means red colonies will form at all temperatures below 27ºC. However the enzyme for B-carotene production would be switched on (by loss of secondary structure of the RNA element) at 27ºC and between 27 and 37ºC E. coli colonies will be orange. Above 37oC the zeaxanthianin enzyme will be turned on and colonies will have a yellow color.