Smart Fold Reporter
Smart Fold Reporter is the subproject for the first strategy we are trying to express hPPARalpha in E. coli. This project uses altered growth conditions such that this nuclear hormone receptor protein can be successfully epressed and used to transcriptionally report for the presence of phthalates. |
Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear Fusion is our second approach to constructing a phthalate detection system in E. coli. In this project we use just the ligand binding domain of hPPARalpha fused to thymidylate synthase (TS). Binding of the phthalate ligand to this chimeric protein activates TS. When this construct is placed in a TS diffident strain, only E. coli in the presence of a hPPARalpha agonist will survive. |
| Diauxie Elimination E. coli
Cellulosic Biomass is an aboundant and inexpensive energy sourse that is ideal for bioproduction. A potential problem with the use of biomass for things such as ethanol production is that it is comprised of both glucose and xylose in relitivly equal ratios. Bacteria such as E. coli preferentially use glucose before any other sugar, meaning that the xlyose in the biomass is not utilized.
In this projcet we attempt to eliminate this phenomenon called diaxie by getting our cells to utilize both sugars at the same time. Solving this problem will lead to more efficent use of cellulosic biomass including moving towards the future of bioproduction: continous processes.
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