Team:WashU

From 2010.igem.org


Introduction / Abstract

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a model unicellular eukaryotic chassis; however when compared with Escherichia coli the available synthetic biology tools are lacking. To remedy this problem the 2010 Washington University iGEM team has introduced a synthetic alternative splicing tool, as well as designed and produced new BioBricks parts to ease transformation of synthetic constructs into S. cerevisiae. A mutually exclusive exon splicing system was formulated in which Sex-lethal interacts with the native splicing machinery to affect splice site choice. Two vectors have been designed to facilitate simple bacterial BioBrick manipulation and subsequent chromosomal integration into the yeast genome. A yeast positive selection marker BioBrick has been produced for the first time. Chromosomal integration with positive selection will stabilize and streamline BioBrick transformations into S. cerevisiae. A synthetic splicing assembly will allow for new synthetic biology techniques such as isoform engineering of proteins or combinatorial logic.

Sponsors

Acknowledgements

  • Sigma Aldrich has generously donated the reagents used during the course of our experiment.
  • We would like to thank Dean Quatrano and the Washington University in St. Louis Department of Biomedical Engineering for there assistance and funds throughout the entire summer.
  • We would also like to thank the Washington University in St. Louis Department of Biology and Carol Kohring for their lab space, equipment and assistance in the Lab.
  • The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), Washington University Career Center, Mckelvey Scholarship Program and the Tang Lab for providing stipends.
  • The assistance of the Cohen Lab, Dantas Land, Jez Lab and Yinjie Lab.


Contact Us

If you have any questions, advice, or are interested in joining the 2011 WashU iGEM team we would love to hear from you. The Washington University iGEM team may be reached at WashU.iGEM@gmail.com