Team:Grenoble/Grenoble

Grenoble Project

Abstract

Only ranges of pollutant concentration have been measured in the iGEM competition until now. Our goal is to create a simple and accurate, ready-to-use bioquantifier for heavy metals. Simple enough for an easy visual checking and a routine use in the labs. Our system is inspired from Gardner's work on toggle switch biosystem and from former iGem teams' works on quorum sensing communication.

Our purpose is to add a pollutant to a device containing a bacterial layer on an engineered medium. This engineered medium is an IPTG gradient.Add of that pollutant to our system induces a geographical division of the plate into two areas : one where the IPTG concentration prevails, and the other where the pollutant concentration prevails. Toggle switch is a biological network which allows to lock our biosystem in a specific state. We use it here in association with complementary quorum sensing genes : A sender and a receiver. Thus, at the interface between both, the reception of quorum sensing molecules by the receptors will induce the coloration of the bacteria. Finally we will obtain a colored line from which we can get the unknown concentration of pollutant.

Up to now the quantification of heavy metals requires complex physical and chemical protocols. We propose a new way of quantifying heavy metals, much easier than these ones. A first step to a pure water for everyone!