Parts

comK

Bacillus subtilis is a gram-positive bacterial species capable of natural transformation. Under conditions of nutrient deprivation (energy starvation), B. subtilis can be made to uptake foreign DNA. However, transformation through starvation (i.e. growth in minimal media) may not be the most ideal process to implement in the lab, as outcomes can be uncontrollable, time-consuming, and labour-intensive. Fortunately, we can bypass the need for energy starvation by using cells derived from a specific strain of B. subtilis (SCK6) with the pAX01-comK plasmid constructed by Zhang & Zhang (2010).

The key feature conferred by this plasmid is the overexpression of comK, which is the master regulator of competence in B. subtilis. It is known as such because it encodes a transcription factor which upregulates the expression of these competence genes (comC, comE, comF, comG, nucA). All these genes contribute to the DNA uptake mechanism in B. subtilis.

In this “supercompetent” plasmid, the overexpression of these genes is enabled by the master regulator comK, the control of which is placed under the xylose-inducible promoter P_xylA. This means that if we add xylose to the cells, they will activate P_xylA and subsequently comK, resulting in the “turning on” of competence genes. The cells can then uptake foreign DNA without the need for energy starvation. The figure below depicts the pAX01-comK plasmid (Zhang & Zhang, 2010).

The part submitted by iGEM Calgary to allow future teams to take advantage of this xylose-inducible system includes the P_xylA, RBS, and comK gene. We have taken the functional units of Zhang & Zhang's constructed plasmid and placed it between the standard BioBrick prefix and suffix.