Team:WesternU-Research Ontario

From 2010.igem.org

Welcome to the UWO iGEM 2010 Wiki

• WesternU-Research_Ontario is a cross-disciplinary undergraduate team encompassing students from the University of Western Ontario's (UWO) Faculty of Science and Faculty of Engineering, as well as Fanshawe College's Applied Degree Program in Biotechnology.
• The project is sponsored by the Stiller Centre of the UWO Research Park and led under the direction of Lee Smithson and Jennifer Dawe, General Manager and Technical Services Manger respectively of the Stiller Centre.

Project Summary

• Yogourt is produced from Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus bacteria and is a major dairy product produced from the bacterial fermentation of milk.
• Yogourt has been a significant source of nutrition for places like India, Asia and the Middle East for at least 5,400 years. Touted as rich in protein, calcium and vitamins B2, B6 and B12 among other health benefits, yogourt began to quickly enter the mainstay diets of peoples across the globe since the early 20th century.
• Our goal is to isolate a gene sequence from Pseudomonas fluorescens that produces pyoverdine: a yellow-green, water soluble fluorescent pigment.
• The sequence must be subsequently inserted into L. delbrueckii to yield pyoverdine-producing bacteria; that is, yogourt which can effectively fluoresce or 'glow-in-the-dark'.
• Successfully transformed bacteria can lead to widespread implications for the food and drugs industry. Serving as much more than simply a novelty food item, fluorescent foods could be further manipulated to glow upon spoilage.