Team:Paris Bettencourt

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<h2>Welcome to the iGEM Paris Bettencourt 2011 wiki</h2>
<h2>Welcome to the iGEM Paris Bettencourt 2011 wiki</h2>
<h3>Using synthetic biology to investigate newly discovered biological phenomena</h3>
<h3>Using synthetic biology to investigate newly discovered biological phenomena</h3>
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<p>Synthetic biology is a wonderful toolbox for any biologist. It offers a wide choice of components, from amplifiers to reporters, which can be used to obtain more precise and robust results in a lot of experiments. Synthetic biology can be used in very early research work to provide more detailed results. And this is exactly what we chose to do as an iGEM team.</p>
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<p>The recent discovery of nanotubes between individual <em>Bacillus subtilis</em> by Dubey and Ben-Yehuda spiked our interest. In their paper, they showed through impressive microscopy techniques how GFP, plasmids, antibiotics resistance and other molecules could pass through nanotubes. They also showed signs of communication with <em>E.Coli</em>, another species. With these synthetic-biology-friendly bacterium and a potentially non-specific cell-to-cell transportation system, the possibilities seemed endless! We thought about creating a <a href="https://2011.igem.org/Team:Paris_Bettencourt/Potential_Application">bacterial Internet</a> with each cell as an individual computer, about <a href="https://2011.igem.org/Team:Paris_Bettencourt/Potential_Application">complex pattern formation</a> similar to quorum sensing but with far more different diffusing molecules, about finely tuned <a href="https://2011.igem.org/Team:Paris_Bettencourt/Potential_Application">biological factories</a> where compounds would move from one step of the process to the next without leaking outside the cells...</p>
<p>The recent discovery of nanotubes between individual <em>Bacillus subtilis</em> by Dubey and Ben-Yehuda spiked our interest. In their paper, they showed through impressive microscopy techniques how GFP, plasmids, antibiotics resistance and other molecules could pass through nanotubes. They also showed signs of communication with <em>E.Coli</em>, another species. With these synthetic-biology-friendly bacterium and a potentially non-specific cell-to-cell transportation system, the possibilities seemed endless! We thought about creating a <a href="https://2011.igem.org/Team:Paris_Bettencourt/Potential_Application">bacterial Internet</a> with each cell as an individual computer, about <a href="https://2011.igem.org/Team:Paris_Bettencourt/Potential_Application">complex pattern formation</a> similar to quorum sensing but with far more different diffusing molecules, about finely tuned <a href="https://2011.igem.org/Team:Paris_Bettencourt/Potential_Application">biological factories</a> where compounds would move from one step of the process to the next without leaking outside the cells...</p>
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<p>However we had to think twice. The existence of nanotubes between <em>Bacillus subtilis</em> is still debated and we know basically nothing of its characteristics, let alone its inner mechanisms. We therefore decided to investigate the characteristics of this nanotube network with the help of synthetic biology.</p>
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<p>However we had to think twice. The existence of nanotubes between <em>Bacillus subtilis</em> is still debated and we know basically nothing of its characteristics, let alone its inner mechanisms. We therefore decided to investigate the characteristics of this nanotube network with the help of synthetic biology.</p></b>
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Revision as of 07:54, 1 September 2011

Team IGEM Paris 2011

Welcome to the iGEM Paris Bettencourt 2011 wiki

Using synthetic biology to investigate newly discovered biological phenomena

The recent discovery of nanotubes between individual Bacillus subtilis by Dubey and Ben-Yehuda spiked our interest. In their paper, they showed through impressive microscopy techniques how GFP, plasmids, antibiotics resistance and other molecules could pass through nanotubes. They also showed signs of communication with E.Coli, another species. With these synthetic-biology-friendly bacterium and a potentially non-specific cell-to-cell transportation system, the possibilities seemed endless! We thought about creating a bacterial Internet with each cell as an individual computer, about complex pattern formation similar to quorum sensing but with far more different diffusing molecules, about finely tuned biological factories where compounds would move from one step of the process to the next without leaking outside the cells...

However we had to think twice. The existence of nanotubes between Bacillus subtilis is still debated and we know basically nothing of its characteristics, let alone its inner mechanisms. We therefore decided to investigate the characteristics of this nanotube network with the help of synthetic biology.

Project link image

Last year, a team lead by Dubey and Ben-Yehuda discovered an extraordinary new form of communication for bacteria: nanotubes between individual cells! This type of link is well known between eukaryotic cells, but here it was observed between cells widely used by synthetic biologists (Bacillus subtilis). We decided to investigate this new communication way in details using the tools synthetic biology can design. You can find out more about our project in the Project section.
our team Who are we?

We are fifteen parisian students coming from many different disciplines who came together to participate to the iGEM competition. Come and meet the Team.


We are also dedicated to Safety.

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