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Team:Edinburgh/Experiments
From 2011.igem.org
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| - | ==4 August: ''malS'' starch degradation assay== | + | ==malS test systems== |
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| + | Since constructing a cellulose-degrading system would involve three enzymes, a simpler system involving starch degradation by an amylase enzyme is being attempted. | ||
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| + | ===4 August: ''malS'' starch degradation assay=== | ||
Starch turns black in the presence of iodine, so we can do a qualitative test for starch degradation by flooding a starch agar plate with iodine. If starch degradation is occurring, we would expect to see a zone of clearing around the bacterial colonies. | Starch turns black in the presence of iodine, so we can do a qualitative test for starch degradation by flooding a starch agar plate with iodine. If starch degradation is occurring, we would expect to see a zone of clearing around the bacterial colonies. | ||
Revision as of 09:57, 4 August 2011
malS test systems
Since constructing a cellulose-degrading system would involve three enzymes, a simpler system involving starch degradation by an amylase enzyme is being attempted.
4 August: malS starch degradation assay
Starch turns black in the presence of iodine, so we can do a qualitative test for starch degradation by flooding a starch agar plate with iodine. If starch degradation is occurring, we would expect to see a zone of clearing around the bacterial colonies.
Colonies with the malS gene under the control of the lac promoter (i.e. <partinfo>BBa_K523006</partinfo> we hope; awaiting sequencing) did not show starch degradation. This is sort of expected. The malS amylase is periplasmic and so is not expected to actually degrade starch until we get it fused to INP so that it is present on the outside of the cell.
Fixme: this should be redone with proper controls.
