From 2013.igem.org

Solution

To easily detect biological toxins we developed a handy device, everybody is able to operate reliably. By altering the sensorium of E. coli with the help of synthetic biology, the bacteria would release a defined beacon when sensing mycotoxins. This treatment relies on a change of the so called Tar-receptors exterior binding site, to specifically react on mycotoxins (Derr, P. B., 2006: Changing the Specificity of a Bacterial Chemoreceptor. Journal of Molecular Biology , 923–932).

By also changing the interior impulse, an explicit beacon can be measured using the interaction of two fluorescent colorants (FRET). Samples can be given into a self-constructed capsule containing the modified bacteria. The light-signal inside the capsule is measured using a low-cost and open-source constructed FRET analysing system, as well developed by our team.

To illustrate the data in a clear and usable way, the construction of an Android smartphone app is the completion of our project. The application should identify the capsule and apply an online test protocol in order to visualise and compare the data with former tests and share it with customers, leaving the consumer with the opportunity to check different producers on clean manufacturing and production. Consequently, food can be checked on mycotoxins in a cheap and reliable way.