Bioaccumulation

Abstract Construct

Abstract

Environmental improvement by organisms

Hazardous substances in the soil often become a major problem, especially in the site of factories. The turmoil about transfer of Tsukiji market is fresh in our memory recently. In the present state of affairs, however, there is no effective way to remove hazardous substances in the soil and we must invest a large amount of cost to replace the soil.

We suggest a project, collecting hazardous substances by using “E.coli in the soil” and”C.elegans”. Bio accumulation is done through the process; C.elegans preys on E.coli which collected hazardous substances. C.elegans is controlled its behavior and led to the ground the moment preying on E.coli We can see C.elegans with the naked eye, and the fact makes the collecting of hazardous substances easy. Differing from chemical soil purification, this process can greatly reduce the damage to environment. This conception will become more and more important.

Accumulation by using “E.coli in the soil” and “C.elegans”

In the past iGEM, the project, collecting heavy metals dissolve in the soil by using E.coli in the soil, was made, but it’s far from practical, for the yield of this process is little and E.coli is very small, it’s impossible to collect the E.coli directly. Therefore we prepare C.elegans which lives on E.coli in the soil and suggest a process, bio accumulation by “E.coli in the soil” and”C.elegans”.

We incorporate a mechanism to attract C.elegans after taking the hazardous substances in the cell into E.coli in advance. Then C.elegans actively preys on E.coli, which took hazardous substances in its body, and much hazardous substances are being accumulated in C.elegans. Through bio accumulation by using C.elegans, we can see hazardous substances with naked eye and collect the substances easily. We can apply this bio accumulating system to various situations besides soil improvement, and we can expect further development in the future.

The control of C.elegans’s behavior

This project is not merely to bio accumulate by using “E.coli in the soil” and “C.elegans”. To improve the yield of hazardous substances, the project includes controlling the behavior of C.elegans which preys on E.coli in the soil and leading C.elegans to the ground. The specific dsRNA made by E.coli in the soil in advance, C.elengans which preyed on the E.coli is caused RNA interference. We can control the expression of the gene and behavior of C.elegans through RNA interference.

Our project contains the control of C.elegans’s behavior which such that the C.elegans which preyed on E.coli is led to the ground. We can collect the hazardous substances, scattering in the soil and enriched in C.elegans, on the ground at a burst through bio accumulation, E.coli in the soil to C.elegans.

We can widely apply this system controling the behavior of organisms by using RNA interference as the interaction between different species to genetic engineering in the future.