Team:Cambridge-JIC/Notebook

Notebook

First Ideas

Mar-Cam-tia as a volatiles factory

Add metabolic pathways that produce perfumed volatiles (eg geraniol, limonene, geosmin).

Or insect repellents/attractants such as E-beta-farnesene to repel aphids and attract ladybirds, or bombykol to attract moths from miles away.

Production could be linked to circadian clock to change smell (or species of moth attracted) throughout the day - ie Mar-Cam-tia as a clock.

There could be a link to Marchy's air pores.

Mar-Cam-tia as a new form of LCD screen

If chromoprotein expression can be triggered in arbitrary cells by irradiating them with a far-red laser to induce the phytochrome signalling pathway in them, thalli could be written on with light and an image formed. Different lasers, different colour chromoproteins = full palette of laser-plant-pens.

Mar-Cam-tia as phytoELISA

An antigen receptor based on an antibody would be expressed on the surface of Marchantia, and a potentially novel signalling pathway (perhaps involving cAMP production or a tyrosine kinase dimer formation mechanism) engineered such that when the antigen of interest binds with the receptor, downstream events induce an obvious reporting process such as chromoprotein expression, luciferin-mediated glowing, morphological changes or the release of a characteristic smell. Qualitative disease testing with a product that replicates itself out of water and sunshine instead of a single use ELISA that costs $300.

Mar-Cam-tia as a reading lamp

Engineer the luciferin-luciferase system that the 2010 Cambridge team put into 'E. glowli' into Marchy, and show the dodgy kickstarter dude how it should really be done. This could be linked to the plant's circadian rhythm to ensure only nightime glowing.

Marchantia change-o-morpha

A morphological study of Marchy: Can we engineer shape? Can we disrupt the normal course of growth and shape formation? Maybe we can shape it like a cauliflower.

Spore removal

As is, spores are a biocontainment issue. If Marchy was less sexually prolific we would have less of a problem. It would be interesting and aesthetically pleasing to turn the gametophores into the readout of a potential biosensor.