Team:Kyoto

Project Description

Background

In synthetic biology field, biologists and bioengineers design and construct a variety of gene circuits to remedy a polluted environment. However, we can’t scatter genetically modified organisms on environment because of danger of a biohazard. Therefore, to use them in practice, we need a system that genetically modified organisms die when they finish to remedy the polluted environment. In our project, we purpose to make the universal use system of cell death.

System

Figure 1: Our concept of the universal system of cell death. Toxin is a toxic gene, and Inhibitor inhibits the toxicity of the toxin. Enzyme degrades a pollutant. Pollutant-inducible promoter lead to transcription of the downstream DNA sequence when the pollutant exists in environment.

While a pollutant exists in environment, organisms transfected by this gene circuit can exist because of high expression of inhibitor. However, they degrade the pollutant and ultimately large amount of the pollutant is degraded. When the pollutant vanishes in the environment, expression of inhibitor becomes low and toxin kills them. We use toxin as holin of λ Phage and inhibitor as holin deleted an important domain on its toxicity.

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