Team:Wisconsin-Madison/biofuel

In the production of large chain alkanes for biofuel production, it is crucial for there to be a rapid and accurate diagnostic for comparing production rates in engineered strains of E. coli. To develop an alkane biosensor, genes from Pseudomonas putida and Alcanivorax borkumensis were isolated and constructed into a pair of plasmids which code for proteins that bind to alkanes and then induce a promoter upstream of a red fluorescent protein. After gathering data at several different concentrations of alkane, a linear regression was produced, allowing for the quantification of an unknown ethanol concentration in a media based upon the level of fluorescence. Biofuel refers to any number of products that can be derived from biomass, and most commonly refers to alkyl esters (biodiesel) or alchohols, but can also refer to combustible gases and other hydrocarbons. The majority of biofuel research and production is focused on alternative sources of energy for transportation. Biofuel interest is primarily motivated from the need for more renewable fuels, due to the decreasing supply of petroleum and increasing gasoline prices. There is a lot of ongoing research into more efficient production of these kinds of biofuels.

Our goal this summer is to successfully engineer both ethanol and n-alkane biosensors to aid in the process of biofuel production. Biosensors could potentially offer the same sensing accuracy as current techniques, but for a lower cost. Our biosensors will use red fluorescent protein (RFP) to fluoresce in the presence of either ethanol or n-alkanes. The amount of RFP produced in the presence of either of these compounds will (ideally) be proportional to their concentration in solution.

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