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Team:TUDelft
From 2008.igem.org
Welcome to the TU Delft 2008 iGEM wiki! On this page information about the project and its progress will appear during the months we are working on it. The climax of this project will be at the 8th and 9th of November in Boston, when the iGEM jamboree will take place.
Who are we?
This is the first year the TU Delft participates in the iGEM competition. We are six undergraduate students, four instructors and a lot of advisors, willing to help out and think with us when this is necessary. An overview of the people involved and our competences can be found on the team page.
What do we want to achieve?
We want to make a bacterium that is able to monitor the temperature of its surroundings. Also, we would like to have a convenient way to ‘read’ the temperature from the bacterium. This can be done by developing a color or smell based output system. Furthermore, we would like to focus on the ethical side of synthetic biology.
Why is this important?
The need for a micro-scaled thermometer has been described [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B82X8-4N13BB2-N-1&_cdi=33024&_user=499885&_orig=search&_coverDate=02%2F28%2F2007&_sk=999979998&view=c&wchp=dGLbVlz-zSkzS&md5=02d4712f0e1ba955f322b80941b09106&ie=/sdarticle.pdf]. A thermometer of this size can be used to create temperature profiles in electronic and biological devices. Other possible applications are the temperature sensitive induction of expression of basically any protein and temperature control for instance during fermentation. By adding these bacterial thermometers to a fermentation, one can see by taking a sample out of the fermenter and looking at the color of the bacteria whether the temperature is above a certain threshold somewhere in the fermenter.
We want to develop a basic, easy-to-detect output system. Nowadays one of the most used outputs is one of the fluorescent proteins. To detect expression of such a protein, one needs a microscope and laser(s). A standardized output system that develops either color or smell would be more convenient in detecting, surpassing the need for additional instruments to detect the performance of an engineered system.
Applications: - To be worked out further
- Temperature sensitive induction of gene expression - imagine a large fermentor that is kept at a constant temperature of 37oC, for microbial growth. After a certain period of time, when growth conditions are optimal for production of the desired compound, the temperature is lowered to 27oC, which starts gene expression without addition of any chemicals. The lower temperature may reduce growth and not prevent product formation, resulting in better cell effiency. Morover, a 27oC fermentor requires less energy for heating the fermentor. Of course, occasionally, the fermentor doesn't need to be warmed during fermentation, but cooled. The opposite gene regulatory effect can also be observed. Induction at higher production temperatures than growth temperature can also be used with this temperature sensitive induction.
- On demand: deliver DNA sequence for temperature sensitive induction - imagine someone would like to have his/her bugs produce something at a certain temperature. The knowledge of temperature sensitive RNA structures could be used to produce, on demand, temperature sensitive regulatory promotor sites for easy cloning in front of any desired gene, without any side effects. Within the iGEM open source setting, these sequences would become available to everyone.
- Color signal as warning if temperature is too high/low in the process, e.g. in the fermentor -
- Natural colorant production -
