Team:Valencia/Project

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Project Overview
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''A Blues for a Red Planet''</center>
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Project Overview</span></center>
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''Mad Yeasts On Mars'' is a peculiar project, even among the iGEM projects. It started with a kernel of a synthetic biology idea and it has spread in many different directions. It is easy to get lost but do not worry. This overview will give you a general idea of what this project is about and it will guide you through the whole wiki. Keep reading and join the dots with us.
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== Terraforming of Mars ==
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''Terraforming'' of a planetary body (planet or moon) or ''planetary ecosynthesis'' is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere composition, temperature, topography, or ecology to be similar to those of Earth to make it habitable for Terran organism, including humans. Terraforming is a common concept in science fiction. In fact, Jack Williamson, a science fiction writer, coined the term in 1942. But the first to use the concept was H.G. Wells in his ''The War of the Worlds'' (1898), where the martian invaders start a terraforming-reverse process in order to change our planet for their own benefit. Recent work in fiction exploring this concept includes the wonderful ''Mars Trilogy'' by Kim Stanley Robinson that has filled our dreams about the red planet with astonishing details
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[[Image:Valencia_robinson.jpg|thumb|center|600px|Kim Stanley Robinson with his ''Mars Trilogy'' has been one of the major inspirators of our work. They are really worth reading books.]]
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The main objective of this project is to suggest and develop some tools from synthetic biology that could be applied in a terraforming process. In order to know a little bit more about what terraforming is go to [[:Team:Valencia/Terraforming | Terraforming section]]. Basically, terraforming is the process of making an environment habitable for life forms, especially human beings (us!). In this case, the scenario we proposed to terraform is, of course, Mars.  
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In the scientific field, the first one who talk about terraforming of Mars was the ever-inspirational planetary astronomer Carl Sagan in ''The Long Winter Model of Martian Biology: A Speculation'' (1971) and in ''Planetary engineering on Mars'' (1973) both published in ''Icarus''. In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzVYwyxidDY ''Blues for the Red Planet''], the fifth episode of his mythical television series '' Cosmos: A personal Voyage'', he exposes his ideas to the public. Sagan’s plan for terraforming of Mars implies seeding its polar casquets with dark plants. These plants will be artificially selected or genetically modified to resist and “survive” the harsh conditions of Mars climate. The positive point gained with this seeding  will be realeasing oxygen and darkening the martian surface, melting down the polar casquets and liberating the ancient martian atmosphere trapped in there. This fusion water could be transported to the equator by the construction of a network of channels, similarly to the one Percival Lowell believed an inexistent Martian civilization had constructed. Sagan’s opinion about the ethics of this terraforming process, in the case the planet result not sterile is categorical:
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So, which synthetic biology tools are you going to develop? And what is going to be their function in a terraforming process?
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'' "If there is life on Mars, then I believe we should do nothing to disturb that life. Mars, then, belongs to the Martians, even if they are microbes."''
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[[Image:Valencia_sagan.jpg|thumb|center|250px|Carl Sagan, the first scientist who study the terraforming of Mars, holds a model of the red planet in his hands (Hulton Archive/Getty Images).]]
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#Prionic Switch implemented in ''Saccharomices cerevisiae''. Hence the title of our project (''Mad Yeast On Mars'') due to the fact that the mad cows disease is originated by a prion. The function of this switch is regulating Mars temperature by controlling the production of a dark pigment. This pigment (e.g. melanin) can change the albedo of the planet. We call this section of the project[[:Team:Valencia/prion | Regulating Mars Temperature]].
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#LEA protein expression in ''Escherichia coli''. Its function is to protect the bacteria from extreme martian conditions, especially the extreme martian temperature ranges. The name of this part is [[:Team:Valencia/lea | Surviving Mars]].
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In the last years several review works about the concept of terraforming have appeared in the scientific literature. McKay and Marinova (2001) review the general aspects regarding the planetary ecosynthesis in the red planet and the ethics of that process. Graham (2004) has focused in the biological aspects of the creation of a biosphere on Mars and has delineated the stages of such a process. Finally Beech has written a book ''Terraforming: The Creation of Habitable Worlds'' (2009) in which the terraforming process is exhaustively analysed. To delve deeper into this exciting process, we recommend the reading of such works and the introduction to the survey of the ethics of terraforming that we have written.
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It is at this point where ''Mad Yeasts On Mars'' project jumps from Synthetic Biology to Engineering. In order to carry out our experiments and to complement them we had to use, design and develop three different technologies or equipments.
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#The [[:Team:Valencia/RH | Red-House]]. Very soon we realized LEA protein protection against martian conditions was not going to be enough so we design and built a planetary incubator device (Green House + Red Planet = Red-House). This device, very related with the [[:Team:Valencia/lea | Surviving Mars]] part of our project, uses a renewable source of energy (wind power) to keep cultures warm inside of it.
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=== Our project ===
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#[[:Team:Valencia/MSC | Mars Simulation Chamber]]. We used a low pressure chamber in order to simulate the martian atmosphere. Using frozen carbon dioxide we created a very similar martian atmospheric composition. This was absolutely necessary in order to subject our cultures to real martian atmospheric conditions.
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Our ideas for the terraforming of Mars are inspired in Sagan's plan and comes from our conviction of the great usefulness of the tools Synthetic Biology provides us in the context of a planetary colonization.
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#[[:Team:Valencia/WB | Microbial Albedo Recorder]]. We develop a piece of equipment that could measure the difference between the temperature and albedo of different color yeast cultures (melanin expressing and not expressing yeasts). This device is related with the [[:Team:Valencia/prion | Regulating Mars Temperature]] part of our project.
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Our project proposes sowing the martian surface with genetically modified yeasts to produce a dark pigment as melanin. This yeast will help to reduce the albedo and then to warm up the martian atmosphere (this will happen in a Mars partially terraformed). The sowing will be done in shallow seas or lakes in the northern plains, craters or impact basins like Hellas.
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Melanin synthesis by tyrosinase (EC 1.14.18.1) requires oxygen, we know that, but we propose also a simultaneous sow of oxygen-evolving cyanobacteries, which also will produce the necessary carbohydrates for the heterotrophic yeasts metabolism. The melanin will protect the yeasts against the ultraviolet radiation (Graham, 2004). To increase the yeast survival in a terraforming context, that despite to be partially terraformed will be quite harsh to such microorganisms, we propose the introduction in the yeasts of a [[:Team:Valencia/lea | LEA protein (Surviving Mars section)]] . This protein provides resistance against different temperature conditions (low and high) and high-salinity stresses (reference need).
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In order to make Mars surface suitable for the introduction of our microorganism it would be necessary to implement previously a prebiotic stage aim to modify the pressure and the atmospheric composition to increase the temperature on the surface. To do that, it has been proposed the manufacturing and releasing of perfluorocarbons (PFCs) from the martian regolith. Another method would be the installation of orbiting mirrors that would increase the amount of sunlight reaching the surface. Both methods would warm up the atmosphere and increase the pressure enough to allow the sowing of microorganism.
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Furthermore, we developed a simple model for our proposal of terraforming process that we call [[:Team:Valencia/Modeling | Yeastworld ]]. Our aim in this part of the project is the development of a model which describes how the different phenotypes of yeasts interact with the prion switch dynamics. This way we can see how the system behaves and finally how the stabilization of the planetary temperature is made when the system reaches a steady state.
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[[Image:Valencia_terra_grafico.jpg|thumb|center|500px|The stages of the terraforming process. ]]
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Finally we carried out a quite lengthy [[:Team:Valencia/Ethics | ethical report]] that covers a variety of issues from environmental ethics, social problems, religious debates and some interviews with researchers about the idea of terraforming and colonizing other worlds.
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The planetary temperature produced by the biological method we propose to change the albedo would be stabilised in a homeostatic way by a simple system that seems the Daisyworld developed by Watson and Lovelock (1983). We called it the Yeastworld.
 
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At the beginnings, the melanic microorganisms which albedo would be lower than the martian bare ground would increase the atmospheric temperature. Nevertheless, as the temperature was increased some albino forms would appear in the microbial populations. A prion switch, based in Sup35p, a yeast protein that has prion behaviour (hence the necessity to use yeast in our project), would control this phenotypic change ([[:Team:Valencia/prion |Regulating Mars temperature]]). This switch would be turn on with high temperatures. In such conditions the albino forms would have a high selective efficacy due to their high albedo that prevents the overheating. In this context the albino forms would tend to be very numerous in the microbial populations increasing the albedo of the surface. Thereby, the planetary temperature would fall to values in which the melanic forms would be favoured with respect to the albino ones due to his higher use of the thermal energy. Again, the melanic forms would start to be more numerous in the populations increasing the temperature.
 
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In the [[modeling section]]
 
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We hope that by this way a stable planetary temperature would be achieved and maintained biotically as in the Daisyworld’s simulations.
 
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Latest revision as of 22:21, 27 October 2010


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Project Overview

A Blues for a Red Planet

Mad Yeasts On Mars is a peculiar project, even among the iGEM projects. It started with a kernel of a synthetic biology idea and it has spread in many different directions. It is easy to get lost but do not worry. This overview will give you a general idea of what this project is about and it will guide you through the whole wiki. Keep reading and join the dots with us.

The main objective of this project is to suggest and develop some tools from synthetic biology that could be applied in a terraforming process. In order to know a little bit more about what terraforming is go to Terraforming section. Basically, terraforming is the process of making an environment habitable for life forms, especially human beings (us!). In this case, the scenario we proposed to terraform is, of course, Mars.

So, which synthetic biology tools are you going to develop? And what is going to be their function in a terraforming process?

  1. Prionic Switch implemented in Saccharomices cerevisiae. Hence the title of our project (Mad Yeast On Mars) due to the fact that the mad cows disease is originated by a prion. The function of this switch is regulating Mars temperature by controlling the production of a dark pigment. This pigment (e.g. melanin) can change the albedo of the planet. We call this section of the project Regulating Mars Temperature.
  2. LEA protein expression in Escherichia coli. Its function is to protect the bacteria from extreme martian conditions, especially the extreme martian temperature ranges. The name of this part is Surviving Mars.

It is at this point where Mad Yeasts On Mars project jumps from Synthetic Biology to Engineering. In order to carry out our experiments and to complement them we had to use, design and develop three different technologies or equipments.

  1. The Red-House. Very soon we realized LEA protein protection against martian conditions was not going to be enough so we design and built a planetary incubator device (Green House + Red Planet = Red-House). This device, very related with the Surviving Mars part of our project, uses a renewable source of energy (wind power) to keep cultures warm inside of it.
  2. Mars Simulation Chamber. We used a low pressure chamber in order to simulate the martian atmosphere. Using frozen carbon dioxide we created a very similar martian atmospheric composition. This was absolutely necessary in order to subject our cultures to real martian atmospheric conditions.
  3. Microbial Albedo Recorder. We develop a piece of equipment that could measure the difference between the temperature and albedo of different color yeast cultures (melanin expressing and not expressing yeasts). This device is related with the Regulating Mars Temperature part of our project.



Furthermore, we developed a simple model for our proposal of terraforming process that we call Yeastworld . Our aim in this part of the project is the development of a model which describes how the different phenotypes of yeasts interact with the prion switch dynamics. This way we can see how the system behaves and finally how the stabilization of the planetary temperature is made when the system reaches a steady state.

Finally we carried out a quite lengthy ethical report that covers a variety of issues from environmental ethics, social problems, religious debates and some interviews with researchers about the idea of terraforming and colonizing other worlds.


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