Team:Edinburgh/Results/Glycogen3

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Glycogen Assay 3 (Quantitative)

Raman spectroscopy was performed by Dr Rabah Mouras.

Experiment Design

This quantitative assay compared the amount of glycogen produced by:

  • Sample 1 (Control): E. coli cells with no modification to the glycogen production system and grown in a medium which does not promote glycogen formation. These should have a low, basal level of glycogen.
  • Sample 2: E. coli cells transformed with the glgC16 BioBrick but grown in a glucose-free medium. These should produce a higher level of glycogen than the control.
  • Sample 3: E. coli cells transformed with the glgC16 Biobrick and grown in a high-glucose medium. These should produce the highest level of glycogen.

Results from Glycogen Assay 2 (Qualitative) were in line with these expectations.

The three samples were analysed by Raman spectroscopy. Glycogen results in a peak at a Raman shift of 478cm-1, so the Raman intensity of this peak was measured for each sample.

Results

Edinburgh=Glycogen-Assay3.jpg

The results confirm our expectations. Sample 1 cells produced the least amount of glycogen and Sample 3 cells the most. From the intensity of the glycogen peak, the concentration of glycogen in Sample 3 is estimated to be 3~4 times more than in Sample 2.

We may thus conclude that the glgC16 BioBrick results in significantly increased production of glycogen, especially in a high-glucose medium.