Team:Tianjin

From 2013.igem.org

(Difference between revisions)
Line 171: Line 171:
<p style="font-size:30px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:center;color:#a7a7a7;letter-spacing:0.2em;">Abstract</p>
<p style="font-size:30px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;text-align:center;color:#a7a7a7;letter-spacing:0.2em;">Abstract</p>
<hr />
<hr />
-
<p style="font-size:16px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:150%; word-spacing:0.2em;">Biosynthesized alkanes are promising candidates for drop-in replacement of petroleum. Our goal is to optimize the pathway of alkane synthesis and get high productivity. We picked out several key points in the pathway from glucose to various alkanes and generated a large number of strains with different productivity. In order to select out the ones with highest productivity, we designed a device named AlkFinder. The core of AlkFinder is a biosensor which can recognize sensitively alkane molecules within the cell and turn on the expression of downstream genes functioning as selection module. With AlkFinder, we managed to select the optimized genes of the pathway effectively and efficiently.  
+
<p style="font-size:16px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:150%; word-spacing:0.2em;">
 +
Nowadays, scientists have put great attentions on biofuels, hoping to find a solution to energy crisis and climate change. Among all kinds of biofuels, alkanes stand out because of its excellent properties. In the research of alkane bio-synthesis, there is always a need to sense or detect alkanes. However, due to the inconspicuous property of alkanes, the current alkane detection or sensing methods can hardly meet the demands of alkane sensing or detection.
 +
 
 +
Our project offers a novel solution to the problem. In our project we constructed a sensor, named AlkSensor, that could respond to certain alkanes. AlkSensor is composed of a transcription factor protein ALKR and a inducible promoter PalkM. We developed a mathematical model to find ways to optimize and regulate the sensor. After the construction and reconstruction of AlkSensor, we performed an in vivo alkane sensing test. The qualitative test showed AlkSensor could function as we expected. Besides, we characterized AlkSensor with different inducers and obtained the quantitative relationship between AlkSensor’s input and output. What is more, we designed an selection strategy based on AlkSensor to select out the strains with high productivity of alkanes . A preliminary test was performed and the result verified the feasibility of this design.
</p>
</p>
</div>
</div>

Revision as of 05:21, 13 October 2013

Abstract

Nowadays, scientists have put great attentions on biofuels, hoping to find a solution to energy crisis and climate change. Among all kinds of biofuels, alkanes stand out because of its excellent properties. In the research of alkane bio-synthesis, there is always a need to sense or detect alkanes. However, due to the inconspicuous property of alkanes, the current alkane detection or sensing methods can hardly meet the demands of alkane sensing or detection. Our project offers a novel solution to the problem. In our project we constructed a sensor, named AlkSensor, that could respond to certain alkanes. AlkSensor is composed of a transcription factor protein ALKR and a inducible promoter PalkM. We developed a mathematical model to find ways to optimize and regulate the sensor. After the construction and reconstruction of AlkSensor, we performed an in vivo alkane sensing test. The qualitative test showed AlkSensor could function as we expected. Besides, we characterized AlkSensor with different inducers and obtained the quantitative relationship between AlkSensor’s input and output. What is more, we designed an selection strategy based on AlkSensor to select out the strains with high productivity of alkanes . A preliminary test was performed and the result verified the feasibility of this design.

Back To Main Page →

Retrieved from "http://2013.igem.org/Team:Tianjin"