Two members of our team went to the iGEM Team Groningen to perform microarray analyses. With this approach we tried to identify novel c-di-AMP-dependent regulatory elements that control gene expression in B. subtilis.
Two members of our team with the Groningen iGEM Team.
We found several interesting candidate genes that seemed to be regulated by intracellular c-di-AMP among them ydaO, a gene that has been recently shown to be controlled by a c-di-AMP-dependent “riboswitch”.
This is Sam who prepares the RNA for microarray analyses.
Besides the lab work, we were also interested what Groningen has to offer during the night. So the Groningen team took our two members to a night out through the nightlife of Groningen.
In some Groningen bar.
In recognition of helping us with the microarray analyses, we helped the Groningen iGEM team how to find more sponsors. Therefore we showed them how we got in contact with our sponsors.
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We sent two soil samples to the Norwich iGEM team. One from the area around our lab, which is in the center of Germany (51° 32' N, 9° 56' O) and the other from the Wadden Sea (53° 52' N, 8° 42' O).
The department of Prof. Volkhard Kaever at the MHH helped us with determining the concentration of c-di-AMP by a liquid chromatography-coupled tandem mass spectrometry method.
The department of Prof. Ralf Ficner helped us with the crystallization assays and the refinement of the crystallization conditions. In addition to this, members of his department recorded diffraction patterns in order to determine the 3D structure of our enzyme.