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Team:Brown/Modeling/Results
From 2010.igem.org
Results
This page will discuss the insight gained through our mathematical modeling.
As our circuit is complicated and involved many transcription factors and reporting proteins (see above), results are separated into the modular parts of our circuit.
Results
LovTAP to LovTAP*
Our entire circuit depends on the conversion of LovTAP to LovTAP* by light. In this simulation, the cell is irradiated at t=300 and this irradiation is ceased at t=700. We observe function as desired, with the concentration of LovTAP as it converts to LovTAP*, and decreasing when the light is turned off.
LovTAP* to CI
Because LovTAP* is a repressor and we desired light induced induction, we make use of an altered version of the double-repression system designed by EPF-Lausanne. Thus, when LovTAP* represses the TrpR promoter, tetR is no longer produced, allowing production of CI+AraC+Mnt. The graph below shows LovTAP* in green, tetR in red, and CI in cyan. As we can see, the increase in LovTAP* decreases tetR and CI then increases, as desired.
State 1
Our first state is on by default; it is the ‘reset’ state of the bi-stable switch. In the graph below, LovTAP* is in green, S1 is in yellow, and CI is in cyan. As we can see, the S1 protein gradually increases at first. When LovTAP* begins to increase in concentration, CI is produced which flips the bi-stable switch; thus, the concentration of S1 decreases.
State 2
The following is the above graph with S2 protein included, signaling the entrance of the circuit into the second state after a sufficient quantity of CI has been produced.
State 3
State three is triggered by the introduction of LacI, which is produced in the second state of the bi-stable switch. In the following graph it is visible how the introduction of Light (it is clear when the light is on by the presence of LovTAP*, in green) switches from state 1 to state 2, and how the termination of that light switches the cell to state three. Notice that state 2 remains active even when state 3 is activated.
State 4
State 4 is triggered through our AND gate, which is adopted from the PKU 2009 iGEM team. When the light is turned on for the second time, we expect to enter our fourth state. However, as we can see from the below graph (S1 is yellow, S2 is black, S3 is blue, S4 is green) we actually enter state 4 BEFORE state 3.
This is a problem with the biological functions underlying our circuit. We have traced this problem to the fact that our hybrid LacI inducible / Mnt repressible promoter that we were using is not sufficiently repressed by Mnt to prevent activation of the fourth state, which is then magnified through our AND gate.
Caveats
This is where we talk about the potential problems with our model
Speculations
This is where we speculate about the future of the project purely based on the model.
