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| − | <h1> Welcome to iGEM 2019! </h1> | + | <h1> Welcome to Waterloo iGEM 2019! </h1> |
| − | <p> | + | <p> Our wiki is currently under construction - See Project Inspiration for our description! </p> |
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| + | <h3>Project Inspiration!</h3> | ||
| + | <p>Pesticide usage and regulations in Canada have recently come under scrutiny and have caught our attention. Despite playing an important role in protecting crops, pesticides can also negatively impact the immediate rhizosphere of plants by inhibiting the process of root nodule formation. Rhizobacteria are soil bacteria that form beneficial relationships with agriculturally important legume crops. These microorganisms form root nodules and fix nitrogen gas into ammonia, a requirement for plant growth. Farmers using pesticides then need to apply more synthetic nitrogen fertilizers instead of relying on biologically fixed nitrogen. The runoff from these fertilizers can cause major environmental damage in the form of nutrient pollution. Our team therefore aims to minimize the use of ammonia-supplemented fertilizers. To do this, we are engineering rhizobia to have the ability to form root nodules in the presence of pesticides. We will confer resistance by either altering target receptors for the pesticide, or by biologically transforming the pesticide to dampen its toxicity. The aim is to identify the impact these changes will have on root nodule fixation by the engineered rhizobium, with the goal of allowing root nodule formation in the presence of pesticides. Agriculture is a large component of our local community, and providing constructive synthetic biology solutions that support current agricultural practices is fundamental to the inspiration of this year’s project. This project hopes to allow farmers to reduce their use of harmful fertilizers while still using pesticides to ensure high crop yields.</p> | ||
<h3>Before you start</h3> | <h3>Before you start</h3> | ||
Revision as of 22:30, 27 June 2019
Welcome to Waterloo iGEM 2019!
Our wiki is currently under construction - See Project Inspiration for our description!
Project Inspiration!
Pesticide usage and regulations in Canada have recently come under scrutiny and have caught our attention. Despite playing an important role in protecting crops, pesticides can also negatively impact the immediate rhizosphere of plants by inhibiting the process of root nodule formation. Rhizobacteria are soil bacteria that form beneficial relationships with agriculturally important legume crops. These microorganisms form root nodules and fix nitrogen gas into ammonia, a requirement for plant growth. Farmers using pesticides then need to apply more synthetic nitrogen fertilizers instead of relying on biologically fixed nitrogen. The runoff from these fertilizers can cause major environmental damage in the form of nutrient pollution. Our team therefore aims to minimize the use of ammonia-supplemented fertilizers. To do this, we are engineering rhizobia to have the ability to form root nodules in the presence of pesticides. We will confer resistance by either altering target receptors for the pesticide, or by biologically transforming the pesticide to dampen its toxicity. The aim is to identify the impact these changes will have on root nodule fixation by the engineered rhizobium, with the goal of allowing root nodule formation in the presence of pesticides. Agriculture is a large component of our local community, and providing constructive synthetic biology solutions that support current agricultural practices is fundamental to the inspiration of this year’s project. This project hopes to allow farmers to reduce their use of harmful fertilizers while still using pesticides to ensure high crop yields.
Before you start
Please read the following pages:
Styling your wiki
You may style this page as you like or you can simply leave the style as it is. You can easily keep the styling and edit the content of these default wiki pages with your project information and completely fulfill the requirement to document your project.
While you may not win Best Wiki with this styling, your team is still eligible for all other awards. This default wiki meets the requirements, it improves navigability and ease of use for visitors, and you should not feel it is necessary to style beyond what has been provided.
Uploading pictures and files
You must upload any pictures and files to the iGEM 2019 server. Remember to keep all your pictures and files within your team's namespace or at least include your team's name in the file name.
When you upload, set the "Destination Filename" to T--YourOfficialTeamName--NameOfFile.jpg. (If you don't do this, someone else might upload a different file with the same "Destination Filename", and your file would be erased!)
Wiki template information
We have created these wiki template pages to help you get started and to help you think about how your team will be evaluated. You can find a list of all the pages tied to awards here at the Pages for awards link. You must edit these pages to be evaluated for medals and awards, but ultimately the design, layout, style and all other elements of your team wiki is up to you!
Editing your wiki
On this page you can document your project, introduce your team members, document your progress and share your iGEM experience with the rest of the world!
Use WikiTools - Edit in the black menu bar to edit this page
Tips
This wiki will be your team’s first interaction with the rest of the world, so here are a few tips to help you get started:
- State your accomplishments! Tell people what you have achieved from the start.
- Be clear about what you are doing and how you plan to do this.
- You have a global audience! Consider the different backgrounds that your users come from.
- Make sure information is easy to find; nothing should be more than 3 clicks away.
- Avoid using very small fonts and low contrast colors; information should be easy to read.
- Start documenting your project as early as possible; don’t leave anything to the last minute before the Wiki Freeze. For a complete list of deadlines visit the iGEM 2019 calendar
- Have lots of fun!
Inspiration
You can also view other team wikis for inspiration! Here are some examples: