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From 2010.igem.org

The Team

The iGEM-Team Bielefeld consists out of 10 Master students from Bielefeld University studying Biology, Molecular Biotechnology or Genome-based Systems Biology. Supervisors of the team are Prof Karsten Niehaus and Dr Jörn Kalinowski. So far our Team was either succesful in recruiting regional sponsors as well as national organisations like BIO.NRW. In order to cover costs for consumable supplies, travelling expenses for the final presentation at the MIT and webspace fee for iGEM-Bielefeld internet platfom, the team still relies on external sponsoring.

The Project – MARSS (Modulated Acetosyringon Receptor Sensor System)

The iGEM-Team Bielefeld is assuming the challenge to carry out a modulation of an E.coli receptor in order to be able to detect capsaicin which is responsible for the degree of spiciness of a fare. The idea is to make this spiciness visible via a kind of stoplight system using the bacteria mentioned. The bacteria is to be red at an intense spiciness in food, orange at a moderate degree and green at a low leves. The idea is to make spiciness in fare visible via a gradient light signal applying a rapid test system.

The original receptor is the acetosyringone detection system of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Acetosyringone is a secondary metabolite of plants used as bacterial attractant. Binding the acetosyringon receptor induces intracellular signal transduction. Using directed mutagenesis we aim to modulate the receptor binding domain so further, similar substances will be detectable. The ultimate system will be expressed in E.coli cells containing a light signaling gene.

In addition to capsaicin there are also other detectable substances in debate, for instance the neurotransmitters dopamine and epinephrine as well as their near derivatives. Furthermore, environmental toxins as well as allergy-triggering substances could be detected by the light emitting system.

After all, a broad range of traceable substances plus a high sensitivity of the latter would be the greatest possible aim of our working group. Such rapidly and sensitively reacting biological systems could for instance be applied in quality control in the production of edibles . A harmful and unwanted substance entering a production chain could be visualized by the light signalli ng system. Beneficially, there could be a rejection of effected products or a production interruption for preventing the product to enter the trade market.

Contact

Homepage of iGEM Team Bielefeld

http://www.igem-bielefeld.de/

info@igem-bielefeld.de

Frieder Hänisch

Tel.: +49521 78 09 819

fhaenisch@igem-bielefeld.de

Nils-Christian Lübke

+49171 3819111

nluebke@uni-bielefeld.de

Supervisors

Prof. Karsten Niehaus

Dr. Jörn Kalinowski