Team:SDU-Denmark/Tour52

Characterization

“And by what, O Socrates, is the soul nourished?” - Hippocrates
“By knowledge, of course, I said.” - Socrates

Characterization of our biobricks is a chance for us to prove that our design works as intended. We invite you along on a journey through our attempts to obtain proof of concept; to show that Bacteriorganic Rubber is a true possibility. This page will slowly guide you through our results, but keep in mind that not everything is presented below. For all the details, consult our protocol page, where you will find a comprehensive picture of our project.

Characterization of LacI/Plac

Characterization of AraC/Para

The HRT2 gene is under the control of the arabinose promoter (which is arabinose inducible). Therefore we assayed if we are in fact capable of inducing the expression by addition of arabinose, and that expression is shut down prior to induction. The assay was carried out by measuring the mRNA levels of HRT2 using the northern blotting technique.

To test if overexpression of AraC was necessary for expression control, devices with and without the araC device was assayed. Duplicates of MG1655 strains carrying either pSB1C3-Para-HRT2 or pSB1C3-Pcon-araC-term-Para-HRT2 were grown to late-exponential phase: OD₆₀₀=0.8. At this OD the strains were induced with 0.2 % arabinose at time t=0 min, and samples were taken at times: -2 min, 15 min, and 30 min. Total RNA purified from the samples were run on a gel, blotted onto a membrane, and hybridized with probes specific for HRT2 mRNA and 5S rRNA (loading control), respectively.

The results proves that we are capable of inducing our HRT2 devices with arabinose. There is only little expression before induction and within the first 15 min the expression is at its maximum. Overexpression of AraC does not seem to have any effect on the expression levels after 15 min compared to natural levels of AraC, though we cannot conclude that it has no effect in the minutes prior to 15 min after induction (Fig. X).

Characterization of dxs (B. subtilis)

Characterization of the Prenyltransferase