Team:ZJUT-China/Collaborations
Human Practices
Collabration
With University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
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In this year's exchange and cooperation with the iGEM19-UESTC-China team, we provided the UESTC-China team with the arabinose-induced lysis gene, which is one of the parts created by the ZJUT-China team in 2018(BBa K2256051).
With Beijing Institute of Technology
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This year, we also collaborated with the Beijing institute of technology on experimental design. When testing the formaldehyde-induced promoter pFMR, we encountered a serious promoter leakage problem. At the same time, the connection between the formaldehyde degradation pathway and the color indicator pathway was not close, and the bacteria always expressed a large amount of formaldehyde degradation protein, which caused a huge load on the growth and metabolism of the bacteria. We thought of the amplification system ( BBa_K2305016
) set up by BIT_CHINA in 2017 and hoped to get their guidance. So we contacted BIT_CHINA, who provided us with the route and gene sequence of the amplification system, and showed us their experimental data. With their help, we added a cycle amplification system to this year's design.
Figure 1 The GFP curve linked with the amplification system[1]
LuxR and LuxI come from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. luxI can synthesize N-acyl homoserine lactones (N-AHL) by using fatty acyl-acyl carrier protein and s-adenosyl methionine as the substrate. And LxuR could specifically recognize N-AHL and then bind to it, so as to control and regulate the expression of other target genes.
Figure 2 the amplification system with lbfdh and cat
When there is formaldehyde in the culture environment , PfrmR will be induced to express LxuI which could synthesize AHL. After AHL is combined with LxuR, PluxR will be induced to express more LuxR and LxuI. Finally, a positive feedback amplifier will be established.
With the help of cycle amplification system, we improved our system in these three areas:
1. We connect the color reaction indicator system with formaldehyde degradation system, bringing different systems closer together.
2. The protein lbfdh only expressed at high concentrations of formaldehyde to reduce formic acid content, decreasing cell growth load.
3. It promote the expression of cat and lbfdh, strengthening both the color reaction and degradation of formic acid.
With Jinan Foreign Language School
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During the initial design of Jinan Foreign Language School (JNFLS)’s biobricks, they did not achieve the expected transcription efficiency. Different promoters were taken into test. The repeated sifting have left two promising ones with better compatibility under the current situation. The PfrmR and the PhxlR. However, the outcome was still barely persuasive. During the 6th CCIC conference, we have had a comprehensive talk with JNFLS, which aimed on similar topic with us. Under our suggestion, a new mutant LacZ with shattered lactose operon that is left intentionally defective was taken into consider. This special promoter has a more simple structure than many bacterial and is therefore stronger. The change in operon have eliminated the constraint in lactose inducement, which means there is no further demand of IPTG or lactose. We once suggested to provide them vectors which contain this promoter. In August this year, we cooperated with iGEMers from Jinan Foreign Language School.
During the Sixth Conference of China iGEMer Community in August, we had a collaboration with the team members from JNFLS China, which led to a substantial progress in our hardware design.
According to our initially designed pathway, in response of the change in formaldehyde concentration, our bacteria will produce indicators, affecting the color of our reaction system. However, the light-induced suicide circuit has limited the degree of light exposure to which the bacteria can endure, hindering our observation of the color’s changing pattern.
Before the conversation, we were intrigued by JNFLS’s project, which also focused on similar topic of formaldehyde clearance, as well as by their hardware design. Through our conversation, we gained inspiration and suggestions in our hardware design: several members from JNFLS advised us to adopt a gas-washing bottle-like structure for our device. Afterwards, we designed a more complex and efficient gas-washing bottle—the gas accumulator—which was installed onto our hardware device.
We appreciate this collaboration with JNFLS for their contribution, which enabled us to make further improvements.
We are very grateful for this mutual assistance, which helps us to improve the original project.
We are very grateful to them in terms of data and ideas to help our project!
The final product of BIT’s project this year is aimed to detect substances in the environment that can cause oxidative damage. To detect specific pollutants in the environment, BIT first need to understand the current situation of environmental pollution. This is very important for their project.
We provide BIT with a statistical table of environmental pollution data in China. This table is from the first national census of pollution sources. A total of 5.926 million people were surveyed, including 1.576 million industrial sources, 2.899 million agricultural sources, 1.446 million household sources, and 4,790 centralized pollution control facilities.
The report gives an overall picture of the number and distribution of pollution sources in China. The situation is described in detail from three aspects: industrial pollution source, agricultural pollution source and domestic pollution source.
Through these data, they fully understand the current situation of environmental pollution sources in China. So We know better what the results of the project should be.
CCIC
In August this year, we sent four iGEM elites to CCIC to share our projects and learn a lot. Let's take a look at the feelings of the team members.
In the past few days of CCIC communication, I like to participate in a small jamboree, learn a lot of different projects, learn a lot of knowledge, and most importantly, get a lot of suggestions from teachers and students from different universities. What impresses me most is the teacher's suggestions for our experiment and physical model. In the aspect of experiment, the teacher suggested that we change the method of formaldehyde efficiency detection, because during the communication of CCIC, our efficiency gap could not well explain that the engineering bacteria we built had good working efficiency; in the aspect of physical model, the teacher suggested that adding enrichment device could increase the amount of formaldehyde dissolved in water, which could also improve the efficiency of formaldehyde degradation. Rate. Therefore, after the CCIC exchange meeting, we also improved our project according to the suggestions of teachers and students.
At the end of August, on behalf of zjut team, he articipated in the offline communication meeting CCIC of igemer in China, and appreciated 70 iGEM teams from more than 60 universities across the country to share their research results and experience through team display and poster display in the conference hall. After sharing, our team got the comments from the judges invited by the organizing committee, and many teams came to communicate with us after looking at our posters. We found that there are still many problems in the design of our project, not enough rigorous in the background research, and not enough close communication between groups. Another important thing is the design. There are many problems that need to be proved or modified by experiments. The organizing committee also arranged many top experts and scholars to share their achievements, views, experiences and knowledge in the field of synthetic biology, which not only enriched our knowledge, but also helped us to see the future of synthetic biology more clearly.
2019 iGEM exchange meeting in East China
On April 13, the first iGEM exchange meeting in China in 2019 was held at New York University in Shanghai. The zjut iGEM team of our university was invited to participate in the meeting of ideological collision, listened to the experience of last year's participating teams, and had in-depth exchanges with 20 new teams in 2019.
In the workshop of each conference room, members from different teams are familiar with each other and share their experience and initial results. In the same lounge with us are members of the software team of Tongji University. They shared last year's alpha ant project. On the basis of the data accumulated before, they helped researchers find possible paths through their own developed software, so as to reduce the blindness of the experiment. In addition, they introduced the improvement of this year's team on this basis, such as DFS algorithm pruning, greedy algorithm optimization, etc.
In the parallel meetings of the two venues, the teams showed the results of 18 projects and 19 project ideas in turn. For example, Zhejiang University introduced their project "internal detector" last year, in which the hardware part of 6 × interdigital working electronics and the modeling aspect of k-NN algorithm achieved a very professional and in-depth degree; while students of Shanghai University of science and technology used small molecular substances secreted by intestinal flora to treat type II diabetes, let us see the possibility of deep cooperation; Jiangnan University shared an The construction of Ti phase infection E.coli can be seen from its biosafety. Last year, the team of Jiangnan University and the team of our university achieved fruitful results. East China University of science and technology shared their achievements in solving the problems of corrosion and blockage of circulating cooling water by engineering bacteria: the integration of four functions: sensing, rust removal, membrane removal and sterilization, and the two-level progress of group sensing and internal environment response. The trinity of biosafety, engineering application and social feedback has inspired us to see more possibilities.
Finally, Shanghai New York University invited three igemers representatives to have a discussion, shared their stories with iGEM, answered a lot of team questions, and offered pertinent suggestions and frequent witty words. After the meeting, our vice team went to Shanghai University of science and technology for further in-depth exchanges. The two sides enhanced project understanding, gave suggestions to each other, and established profound friendship. After returning to school, we held a large group meeting, where students participating in the exchange shared their feelings and gains, and the instructor and team members further discussed and improved the project accordingly.
We hope to keep the friendly cooperation with these teams after the competition, and hope that we can gain more friendship next year!
