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Team:EPF Lausanne/Project
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==Project idea== | ==Project idea== | ||
[[Image:Mousquito and asaia 3.png|left|250px|caption]] | [[Image:Mousquito and asaia 3.png|left|250px|caption]] | ||
| - | The aim of our project is to | + | The aim of our project is to defeat [https://2010.igem.org/wiki/index.php?title=Team:EPF_Lausanne/Project_malaria Malaria]. To do so, we genetically modified a bacterium that is naturally present in ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Our engineered bacterium is designed to prevent malaria from infecting the mosquito. This in turn will prevent the transmission of the parasite to humans. |
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| - | This bacterium would express an [https://2010.igem.org/Team:EPF_Lausanne/Project_immuno immunotoxin] | + | This bacterium would express an [https://2010.igem.org/Team:EPF_Lausanne/Project_immuno immunotoxin] or specific [https://2010.igem.org/Team:EPF_Lausanne/Project_immuno proteins] that either kill ''P. falciparum'' or prevent its entry into the epithelium of ''Anopheles''. |
[[Image:all_team.png|200px|caption]] [[Image:hunting.png|200px|caption]] | [[Image:all_team.png|200px|caption]] [[Image:hunting.png|200px|caption]] | ||
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| - | + | Our host bacterium ''Asaia'' is an organism that is not only easy to grow and to genetically manipulate but is also naturally present in the ecosystem. We aim to establish ''Asaia'' as a new chassis to give future iGEM teams the opportunity to quickly and efficiently engineer new and more potent ''Asaia'' strains. This would provide synthetic biology with a useful tool in the fight against malaria and other mosquito borne diseases. | |
| - | Our host bacterium ''Asaia'' is an organism that is not only easy to grow and genetically manipulate but also naturally present in the ecosystem. We aim to establish ''Asaia'' as a new chassis to give future iGEM teams the opportunity to quickly and efficiently engineer new and more potent ''Asaia'' strains. This would provide synthetic biology with a useful tool in the fight against malaria and other mosquito borne diseases. | + | |
[[Image:Zorro.png|right|300px|caption]] | [[Image:Zorro.png|right|300px|caption]] | ||
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| - | For | + | For an overview of our project, you can watch our movie |
[https://2010.igem.org/Team:EPF_Lausanne/Humanpractices_Movie iGEM EPFL movie] | [https://2010.igem.org/Team:EPF_Lausanne/Humanpractices_Movie iGEM EPFL movie] | ||
Revision as of 18:23, 27 October 2010
Overview
This page provides an overview for our project and the results we achieved.
Project idea
The aim of our project is to defeat Malaria. To do so, we genetically modified a bacterium that is naturally present in Anopheles mosquitoes. Our engineered bacterium is designed to prevent malaria from infecting the mosquito. This in turn will prevent the transmission of the parasite to humans.
Our idea is to engineer Asaia, a bacterium that is naturally present in the mosquito's intestinal tract.
This bacterium would express an immunotoxin or specific proteins that either kill P. falciparum or prevent its entry into the epithelium of Anopheles.
Our host bacterium Asaia is an organism that is not only easy to grow and to genetically manipulate but is also naturally present in the ecosystem. We aim to establish Asaia as a new chassis to give future iGEM teams the opportunity to quickly and efficiently engineer new and more potent Asaia strains. This would provide synthetic biology with a useful tool in the fight against malaria and other mosquito borne diseases.
So... ASAIA is the pink power against malaria.....
For an overview of our project, you can watch our movie
iGEM EPFL movie
Results
We established Asaia as a new chassis by providing detailed tech-sheets on how to manipulate it. We constructed several biobricks with which selected proteins to block malaria infection of mosquitoes can be produced. We also made Asaia-specific biobricks, such as the CFP construct to test expression. These basics will allow future iGEM teams to use Asaia and manipulate it to fight mosquito-bourne diseases.
The expression of the proteins intended to block P. falciparum was tested in E. coli. The tests showed that the immunotoxin is expressed and it also appears in the supernatant, which is evidence for secretion. We could not show expression of the P-proteins, probably due to the AT-rich sequence.
Furthermore we tested the persistence of Asaia in D. melanogaster to see if it could be used as an alternative host to facilitate research. The results showed that Asaia is not persistent and we assume that it is because Asaia is very specific to mosquitoes.
For further steps of our project we established a collaboration with the Pasteur institute in Paris that works on mosquitoes.
