Team:DTU-Denmark

The aim of this project is to engineer a genetic bistable switch that produces two different, mutually exclusive outputs when given two different inputs. The switch is based on the repressor-anti-repressor system of the Salmonella phages Gifsy1 and Gifsy2 and the λ-phage anti-termination system. The latest induced output will remain stable through generations, even once the input ceases, due to the phage regulatory systems.

We present the framework for this development and we characterize the regulatory mechanisms by using fluorescent proteins as outputs. The dynamics of the system will be modeled and we will also attempt to characterize and submit the promoters, repressors and anti-repressors from the Salmonella phages, as well as the two anti-terminator proteins from the lambda phage, as BioBricks.

There are multiple potential applications for a biological "switch" like ours in the world of biotechnology i.e. within the medical and environmental field.

Figure 1 Fun in the lab!!