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Team:Newcastle/Non-target-environment kill switch
From 2010.igem.org
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Kill switch
Holin-Lysozyme lysis
UC Berkeley developed a Holin-Lysozyme lysis device in 2008.
mazEF
Found in strains of Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. Consists of two two adjacent genes, mazE and mazF, located downstream from the relA gene. mazF encodes a stable toxin, MazF.
mazE encodes a labile antitoxin, MazE, degraded in vivo by the ATP-dependent ClpPA serine protease.
MazE and MazF are coexpressed and mazEF is negatively auto-regulated at the level of transcription by the combined action of both MazE and MazF proteins on the mazEF promoter P2.
This system is activated by several stressful conditions that prevent the expression of mazEF, and thereby MazE synthesis, and thus trigger cell death. These conditions include:
- extreme amino acid starvation leading to the production of the starvation-signaling molecule ppGpp
- inhibition of transcription and/or translation by antibiotics including rifampicin, chloramphenicol, and spectinomycin
- Doc protein, a general inhibitor of translation which is the toxic product of the ‘‘addiction module’’ phd-doc of the plasmid prophage P1.
Non-target environment detection
References: Kulka et al 2006 Bacterial programmed cell death and multicellular behaviour in bacteria.
   
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