Team:Dundee

From 2011.igem.org

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             <h2><a href="/Team:Dundee/Project">Project Brief</a></h2>
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             <h2><a href="/Team:Dundee/Project">The Sphereactor Project</a></h2>
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<p>Over millennia, eukaryotic cells have evolvedsophisticated organelles, which enabled them to partition their cytoplasmic contentsinto functional sectors (e.g. the nucleus for storage of genetic material).Such compartmentalisation allows greater efficiency of cellular processes,where each organelle is allocated a set of specific metabolic tasks. Someprokaryotes have also developed a method of forming intracellular subdivisionscalled bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) by expressing a set of proteins that‘cage in’ a reaction pathway to make it more efficient.
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<p>Over millennia, eukaryotic cells have evolvedsophisticated organelles, which enabled them to partition their cytoplasmic contentsinto functional sectors (e.g. the nucleus for storage of genetic material).Such compartmentalisation allows greater efficiency of cellular processes,where each organelle is allocated a set of specific metabolic tasks. Some prokaryotes have also developed a method of forming intracellular subdivisionscalled bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) by expressing a set of proteins that‘cage in’ a reaction pathway to make it more efficient.
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One such set of proteins is expressed from thepropanediol utilisation (Pdu) operon in Salmonella enterica. Ourteam aims to create a synthetic microcompartment using genes from the pduoperon and an E.coli chassis. In conjunctionwith biobricks made by other iGEM groups in the past, we aim to test theversatility of our microcompartment and to expand our BMC approach into a widevariety of new applications.</p> 
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One such set of proteins is expressed from thepropanediol utilisation (Pdu) operon in Salmonella enterica. Ourteam aims to design and construct a versatile synthetic microcompartment - The Sphereactor - using genes from the Salmonella pduoperon and an E. coli chassis. In conjunctionwith new biobricks, and those made by other iGEM groups in the past, we aim to test a universal targeting signal that can be used to pack the Sphereactor with enzymes. This will also help us understand theversatility of our microcompartment and to expand our BMC approach into a widevariety of new applications.</p> 
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Revision as of 10:49, 1 September 2011

The Sphereactor Project

Over millennia, eukaryotic cells have evolvedsophisticated organelles, which enabled them to partition their cytoplasmic contentsinto functional sectors (e.g. the nucleus for storage of genetic material).Such compartmentalisation allows greater efficiency of cellular processes,where each organelle is allocated a set of specific metabolic tasks. Some prokaryotes have also developed a method of forming intracellular subdivisionscalled bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) by expressing a set of proteins that‘cage in’ a reaction pathway to make it more efficient. One such set of proteins is expressed from thepropanediol utilisation (Pdu) operon in Salmonella enterica. Ourteam aims to design and construct a versatile synthetic microcompartment - The Sphereactor - using genes from the Salmonella pduoperon and an E. coli chassis. In conjunctionwith new biobricks, and those made by other iGEM groups in the past, we aim to test a universal targeting signal that can be used to pack the Sphereactor with enzymes. This will also help us understand theversatility of our microcompartment and to expand our BMC approach into a widevariety of new applications.

Microcompartment

Software

We are lucky enough to have two Applied Computing students on our team this year. They are focusing on maintaining the website and creating software tools and mobile applications to assist the scientists.

One of tools we are developing right now is a multi-platform application that aims to reduce the need for looking up codon tables and hence speeding up the sequencing process.

The main aim of our technology team is to provide efficient and usable software.

Team

This is the first iGem team to emerged from Dundee. We are all very excited to be taking part in the competition.

We are a multi-disciplined team made up of students, advisors and supervisors from Applied Computing, Life Sciences and Mathematics. We feel having a mix of these skills will give us a competitive edge and a well-rounded skill set.

Sponsors

Thanks for the support our sponsors have given us. Without them the project would not have happened.

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