Team:GeorgiaTech/Notebook

The purpose of the proposed research is to genetically engineer bacteria to generate large amounts of heat in response to a cold shock. Applications of synthetic, thermogenerating bacteria range from aiding in evolutionary comprehension by modifying an organism’s response to an external environment to in vitro optimization of protein direction.

Microorganisms respond to environmental stress through several means for survival. Altering a cell’s reaction to external variations prolongs its ability to survive such a shock, thereby ensuring an evolutionary advantage over other species. Studying and manipulating a prokaryote’s stress response can broaden the prospective on evolutionary mechanisms. This research venture will advance biological engineering by furthering current attempts at constructing and understanding complex gene networks. Applications of synthetic, thermogenerating bacteria range from the investigation of cold resistance evolution to controlling a simple organism’s output to a given input. The experiment will focus on producing two distinct responses to a decrease in ambient temperature: over-expression of alternative oxidase (AOX), an enzyme associated with thermogenesis in plants via a cold-induced promoter and subsequent heat generation.