Team:TzuChiU Formosa/Modeling

Gluconacetobacter hansenii which carries the acsABCD protein has the ability to produce cellulose is our main character in our project. Our project is to transform acsABCD protein into photosynthetic bacteria in order to let them produce cellulose. Currently, we’re using E. coli to check the functionality, at the same time we also collect the protein produced by the transformed E.coli and Gluconacetobacter hansenii to calculate the productivity of the cellulose.
Method 1 : SDS-PAGE

Observe the performance of acs ABCD protein during PAGE, predict the productivity of cellulose, run 2 SDS-PAGE respectively, one according to the reaction time and another according to the presence of promoter. -difference of reaction time 0hr, 4hrs, 8hrs, 10hrs, and 12hrs of bacterial culture were collected. Compare the high-performance phase of the acs ABCD protein, imply the productivity of cellulose. -difference of promoter The SDS-PAGE is run with promoter and without promoter. The difference of the protein produced is used to predict productivity of cellulose.



Method 2 : Benedict’s test

The bacterial culture which have been induced were collected and the bacteria is to remove, the end product is added with cellulase until the cellulose is fully decomposed. Benedict solution caused the formation of brick red precipitate, the concentration of cellulose is then tested with OD645.

Cellulase is used to break down the cellulose into monosaccharide. Cellulose is a glucose polymer connected through a beta (1-4) glycosidic linkages. Benedict’s test is carried out to test the presence of reducing sugar, such as. The reducing sugar reduces copper(II) ions in these test solutions to copper(I), which then forms a brick red copper(I) oxide precipitate. The color would range from green to brick red respectively depends on the amount of reducing sugar present in the solution. It can detect the concentration of the reducing sugar under the absorbance condition _OD645.

Cellulose (beta-1,4 glucan) is the most plentiful biopolymer in nature and is an crucial raw material for many industries. It is synthesized as extracellular fibrils by cellulose synthase not only in plants but also in some bacteria.

Bacteria with cellulose synthase gene use Isopropyl-β- D -1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) as the inducer stimulating the production of protein. In our system, IPTG act as the inducer of the R0011 promoter, which then activate the operon. The activated acs operon encodes the cellulose synthase to synthesize cellulose. The reaction lasts two hours and every two hour we would need to collect the purified cellulose. The nett weight is recorded and the mechanism of cellulose activity on pure cellulose substrates is identified. Lastly, the Benedict’s solution is added to find out the absorbance (optical density [O.D.]) value, in order to calculate the amount of monosaccharide that cellulose can produce.