Team:UNITN-Trento/Project/Methyl Salicylate

It was difficult to find a volatile molecule that could be enzymatically produced by a bacterium and also demonstrated to be an efficient ripening inhbitor. There were not many candidates to choose from and after a long search we chose methyl salicylate (MeSA). Previous publications suggested that MeSA could inhibit the ripening of either kiwifruit and tomatoes, at a concentration of 0.5 mM (The dual effects of methyl salicylate on ripening and expression of ethylene biosynthetic genes in tomato fruit. Ding, C. and Wang, Y. 164, 2003, Plant Science, pp. 589-596.) (Aghdam, M., et al. Methyl Salicylate Affects the Quality of Hayward Kiwifruits during. Journal of Agricultural Science. June 2011, Vol. 3, 2, pp. 149-156.)

Fortunately many of the needed parts were already available because of the work of the MIT iGEM 2006 team (Eau de Coli).

We modified and improved these parts and resubmitted them to the registry, as they were not available in pSB1C3.

To have a quantitative analysis we used a Finnigan Trace GC ULTRA with a flame ionization detector (FID) that allowed us to detect ions formed during MeSA combustion in a hydrogen flame. The generation of this ions is proportional to MeSA concentration in the sample stream. A calibration curve was initially created using samples with a well known pure MeSA concentration (0 mM, 0.2 mM, 0.5 mM, 1.0 mM, 2 mM).