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Team:TU-Delft
From 2013.igem.org
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Who are we?
We are the iGEM 2013 team of TU Delft, Netherlands. We are working on the production of antimicrobial peptides in order to kill methicillin resistant Staphyllococcus aureus, MRSA.
Sensing autoinducing peptides
The sensing part of the of Staphyllococcus aureus Agr system is engineered in E.coli. In that way E.coli detects the AIPs that are produced by Staphyllococcus aureus which induces the peptide production.
Peptide Production
E.coli detects S. aureus by its own quorum sensing system, and at that moment inactivated antimicrobial peptides are being produced
Timer
With the use of a timer the peptide will be activated by cleavage of an inactivating tag. With the use of a timer, high concentrations of peptide can be delivered very locally in order to efficiently kill MRSA.
Kill Switch
In order to ensure the safety of the system, the peptide-activating protease is combined with a kill switch that will kill our E. coli.
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