Team:TzuChiU Formosa/Project

Photo-Paper

Abstract

For most countries, paper-making has been a traditional but indispensable industry. Wood pulp is the major raw material for paper-making ,moreover,the complicated processes toward paper-making may contribute to environmental pollution. Acetobacter xylinum is a bacterium which produces bacterial cellulose. It has an acs operon, consisting of genes that called acsAB, acsC, and acsD. These genes interact with each other and synthesize cellulose synthase, an enzyme that transforms UDP-glucose into cellulose. What we want to do is to choose cyanobacteria which provides glucose through photosynthesis. Therefore, we want to use cyanobacteria as the host, then introduce the acs operon genes in it and produce bacterial cellulose by expressing this series of genes. With manufacturing processes, we believe this project can develop into a new and eco-friendly technology of papermaking.

Project Details

Part 2

The Experiments

Part 3

Results

idea2:CO killer

Abstract

CO is produced and emitted by incomplete burning of fuel, such as propane, kerosene, gasoline, oil, natural gas, wood and charcoal; and because Carbon Monoxide (CO) is odorless, tasteless and invisible – it’s a silent killer, people can be exposed to CO without even knowing it. However, CO poisoning is avoidable and preventable if the necessary safety measures are taken. The only safe way to know if carbon monoxide is present is to install carbon monoxide detectors. However, the devices available in the market are expensive and usually only able to detect Carbon Monoxide but unable to degrade it. Thus, we come up to an idea, a genetically modified bacterium which may degrade Carbon Monoxide to harmless Carbon Dioxide by emitting out light as signal. While on the other hand, the Carbon Dioxide collected can be used as biofuel. As we know, carboxydobacteria are able to oxidize CO (carbon monoxide) to CO2, using an enzyme CODH (carbon monoxide dehydrogenase). The carboxydobacteria are not obligate CO users, i.e., some are also hydrogen bacteria, and some are phototrophic bacteria. Interestingly, the enzyme CODH used by the carboxydobacteria to oxidize CO to CO2, therefore we would like to use the CODH and the operon system as the basis of our detector.

idea3:Helmersi Codon

Abstract

Ever since the boom of the livestock industry, countless environmental issues such as methane emission and ecological damage arise. So far, livestock production occupies 70% of the total agricultural land, which roughly accounts for 30% of the Earth. In addition, the world is also facing a major water crisis. According to experts, by the year 2025, 64% of the earthlings would be living in water-scarce areas. The fact that the water used for livestock industry accounted for a massive 50% of the world’s water usage does not help in solving the issue. Greenhouse gas emissions of animal husbandry accounted for 18% of the total emission, even more than the carbon emission of transportation and logistics. Therefore, in order to resolve the issue, we came up with an idea of producing a new "food" that contains all the 8 essential amino acids. The gene ovalbumin will be embedded into plasmid pAMJ399, and the use of promoter p170 to perform gene expression in lactococcus lactis. When human consume lactococcus lactis, it will synthesize the protein to the outer membrane. Our aim is to regulate the synthesis of protein, and hopefully It will become a new source of protein.