Team:Cambridge-JIC/Results
From 2014.igem.org
Results
Chromoproteins
As an example output plugin we transformed into Marchantia a selection of the chromoproteins brought to iGEM by Uppsala 2011. This was to test whether a simple change in colour would work as an easily visible reporter.
Five chromoproteins were selected for expression: eforred (BBa_K592012), tspurple (BBa_K1033906), aspink (BBa_K1033927), aeblue (BBa_K1033929) and amilCP(BBa_K1033930, a deep blue colour). The N7 nuclear localisation tag (INSERT BIOBRICK NUMBER HERE) was added to tspurple, aspink and amilCP. Each was put into pGreen
The transformation procedure yielded a large number of transformants, approximately 100 per construct, which were confirmed via PCR using homogenised plants as a template and chromoprotein-specific primers for each tDNA added.
For each chromoprotein construct, the transformation yielded approximately 100 transformed sporelings (7-days old plants). The petri dish to the right contains hygromycin as a selective marker. The gel confirms the transformation in three plants each from two other plates. The forward and reverse primers used in the PCR anneal to 35S and N7 respectively, and the template was homogenised plant material.
After approximately four weeks of growth, sparsely distributed bright red cells became apparent under the microscope in the plants transformed with the tsPurple gene. Although similar cells were not found in wild type plants, diffuse red regions were found and are probably due to release of anthocyanins by stressed or aging cells.
The bright red cells seen in the Marchantia sporelings transformed to express TsPurplehey