Team:Newcastle

From 2013.igem.org

(Difference between revisions)
Line 35: Line 35:
          
          
             <div class="title">
             <div class="title">
-
                 <h1>L-Forms. The Naked Bacteria</h1>
+
                 <h1>L-Forms Naked Bacteria</h1>
             </div>
             </div>
              
              

Revision as of 14:37, 22 September 2013

 
X
 
IGEM Home Newcastle University

L-Forms Naked Bacteria

Our Project


Our project focuses on the creation and applications of L-forms: bacteria that grow without a cell wall. We propose L-forms as a novel chassis for synthetic biology. Our principle BioBrick switches Bacillus subtilis cells between rod-shape and L-form.

We will use microfluidics to attempt genome shuffling and shape-shifting. It is easier to fuse bacteria without cell walls. Fusion will cause genetic recombination, allowing directed evolution. We will put L-forms in moulds to observe if they adopt different shapes.

L-forms exist symbiotically in plants, which we will visualise by growing GFP labelled L-forms inside seedlings. L-forms could be engineered to supply nutrients to their host. L-forms are osmotically sensitive, giving biosecurity that they lyse if they escape from the plant.

As outreach we reflected upon our project's implications with stakeholders, created a BioGame for the public and developed a workshop for those new to modelling. Finally, we evaluated the relationship between synthetic biology and architecture.

Newcastle University The Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology Newcastle Biomedicine The School of Computing Science The School of Computing Science