Team:Manchester/main.html

From 2014.igem.org

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             <div class="details">
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                <h3>Overall Aims:</h3>
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                 <p>Obesity is a growing problem in today’s society. We plan to use Synthetic Biology to engineer a novel treatment for obesity: by modifying the natural CRP pathway, we will turn a commensal bacterium, Escherichia coli Nissle 1917, into a “sugar sponge” that will absorb excess carbohydrates, before they can be taken up in the human intestines.</p>
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                 <p>To engineer the commensal E. coli, Nissle 1917 to absorb large volumes of glucose (and galactose).<br>
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                This will enable the bacteria to function like a sugar sponge in the intestines sequestering sugar <br>
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                and preventing it from being absorbed. <br>
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                We will look at this in respects to a treatment for obesity and reducing calorific intake.</p>
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                <hr>
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                <h3>Biobricks used:</h3>
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                 <p>In addition to reducing the caloric load, future modifications to the bacteria may allow the use of the sequestered monosaccharides to produce useful products such as bacterial cellulose, thus providing supplementary dietary fibre with additional health benefits.</p>
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                 <p><strong>osmY (full sequence) Part:BBa_J45992</strong>:<br>
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                <ul>
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                    <li>Full length sequence of the osmY stationary phase promoter. <br>
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                    This promoter recruits RNAP with the sigmas haloenzyme which is expressed mainly during periods of low growth or starvation.<br>
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                    It is also slightly activated by the sigma 70 exponential phase RNAP as well.</li>
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                    <li>We will use this to control expression of our mutant CRP so it is only expressed once the cells are fully grown and not during the growth of the Nissle.</li>
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                </ul></p>
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                <hr>
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                <h3>New Biobricks:</h3>
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                 <p>Our engineered bacteria will be of use to obese people who have tried dietary approaches to weight loss and failed to see results. It may also be of use to patients who need to lose weight before surgery. Our project explored two ways of delivering the bacteria: they can either be taken in the form of a pill or in a probiotic yoghurt drink. We carried out a series of surveys to determine consumer preferences and attitudes that would determine the best delivery format.</p>
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                 <p><strong>CRP (cAMP reactive protein/peptide also known as CAP (cAMP activating protein/peptide)).</strong>
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                <ul>
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                    <li>WT CRP will be used mainly as a control to compare to the effects of the mutant CRP. <br>
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                    CRP can only bind DNA when it is activated by binding to cAMP. cAMP levels are controlled by adenylate cyclase which itself is controlled by enzyme IIa part of the glucose uptake system in E. coli.</li>
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                </ul></p><br>  
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                 <p><strong>T127I/S128I Mutant CRP</strong>
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                 <p>At the same time, we collected data on public opinion regarding body weight, weight control, and our project, including attitudes on synthetic biology and genetic modification, which informed our in-depth analysis of obesity and its treatment from the perspective of social scientists. The resulting sociological insights not only directed the genetic engineering strategies within our project, but also provided general guidelines on how to improve the communication of Synthetic Biology approaches in the context of complex biological, medical and social problems.</p>           </div>
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                <ul>
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                    <li>
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                        This mutant version of CRP is constitutively active regardless of the levels of cAMP. <br>
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                        This means that it can induce glucose uptake regardless of the levels of cAMP in the cell and therefore the cells become glucose insensitive and absorb excessive volumes of glucose.
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                    </li>
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                </ul></p><br>
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                <p><strong>GlmS Riboswitch (from B. Subtilis)</strong>
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                    <li>
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                        The GlmS riboswitch is found in most gram positive bacteria.<br>
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                        It is found in the 3’-UTR of the GlmS gene which is responsible for increasing the levels of glucosamine-6-phosphate, which is used to make cell walls etc.
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                        Normally when GLcN-6P is present it binds to the riboswitch and causes cleavage and degradation of the mRNA.<br> Glucose can also bind to the riboswitch but it prevents cleavage and allows transcription.
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                        We will use this to ensure that our gene is only expressed in high glucose conditions.
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                    </li>
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                </ul></p><br>
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                <p><strong>GlmS Promoter (from B. Subtilis)</strong>
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                <ul>
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                    <li>
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                        Normal GlmS promoter, this will be tested in parallel with the osmY stationary phase promoter and will be used to express the riboswitch and CRP.
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                    </li>
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                </ul></p><br>
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                <p><strong>GFP GlmS Riboswitch Fusion</strong>
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                <ul>
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                    <li>
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                        Reporter to analyse the effects of the riboswitch in different concentrations of glucose and to determine how much cleavage may occur in the intestines.
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                    </li>
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                </ul></p><br>
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                <p><strong>Mutant CRP GlmS Fusion</strong>
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                <ul>
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                    <li>
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                        Final product (+promoter) will be inserted into Nissle 1917.
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                    </li>
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                </ul></p>
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                <hr>
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            </div>
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         </div>
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Revision as of 23:46, 14 August 2014

Wiki Coming Soon

University of Manchester

Our Sponsors

Meet The Team

Project Overview

Battling against obesity

Wiki coming soon...

Project Overview

Obesity is a growing problem in today’s society. We plan to use Synthetic Biology to engineer a novel treatment for obesity: by modifying the natural CRP pathway, we will turn a commensal bacterium, Escherichia coli Nissle 1917, into a “sugar sponge” that will absorb excess carbohydrates, before they can be taken up in the human intestines.

In addition to reducing the caloric load, future modifications to the bacteria may allow the use of the sequestered monosaccharides to produce useful products such as bacterial cellulose, thus providing supplementary dietary fibre with additional health benefits.

Our engineered bacteria will be of use to obese people who have tried dietary approaches to weight loss and failed to see results. It may also be of use to patients who need to lose weight before surgery. Our project explored two ways of delivering the bacteria: they can either be taken in the form of a pill or in a probiotic yoghurt drink. We carried out a series of surveys to determine consumer preferences and attitudes that would determine the best delivery format.

At the same time, we collected data on public opinion regarding body weight, weight control, and our project, including attitudes on synthetic biology and genetic modification, which informed our in-depth analysis of obesity and its treatment from the perspective of social scientists. The resulting sociological insights not only directed the genetic engineering strategies within our project, but also provided general guidelines on how to improve the communication of Synthetic Biology approaches in the context of complex biological, medical and social problems.

Meet The Team

Greta

Greta Jasulaityte

Greta is in her 2nd year studying BSc Biotechnology.
Her role in the project is doing the lab work and modelling.
In her free time she enjoys travelling and salsa dancing.

Catherine

Catherine Jeon

Catherine is in her final year studyinng BSc Sociology and she is working on the Human Practices side of the project.
She really enjoys traveling; whenever time and money allows!

Izzy

Isobel Holley

Izzy is in her first year studying Neuroscience and her role in the team is carrying out the experiments.
In her spare time, she likes watching films, skydiving, cooking and botany

James

James Parkinson

James is in his final year studying BSc Biomedical Science and is working with Izzy to carry out the experiments.
Besides doing sciencey stuff he enjoys having loooong (not that long) walks on the beach.

Sid

SiddharthYadav

Sid is in his 1st year doing the B.Soc.Sc. Sociology course.
He is working side by side with Catherine on the Human Practices aspect of it.
Currently he is in the 110 metre Hurdles team and he enjoys history, movies, travelling and having fun (all sorts).

Taf

Tafadzwa Machiridza

Taf is in his 2nd year studying Computer Science and Maths and his role is developing the wiki pages. He loves his food and sleep. Besides that, he likes playing video games, playing football, dancing and doing pencil sketches.

Eriko

Eriko Takano

Eriko is Professor of Synthetic Biology at the University of Manchester, where she develops a wide range of tools for synthetic biology,
with a special interest in high-value fine chemicals and bioactive secondary metabolites.

Rainer

Rainer Breitling

Rainer is Professor of Systems Biology at the University of Manchester and is interested in the
development of computational methods to assist the synthetic biology design and debugging processes.

Our Sponsors

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