Team:Paris Bettencourt

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Team IGEM Paris 2011

Using synthetic biology to investigate newly discovered biological phenomena

In a recent paper, Dubey and Ben-Yehuda discovered a new cell-to-cell communication system: nanotubes. Through excellent electronic microscopy images, antibiotic resistance transfer and faint fluorescence transfer they showed that a previously unknown exchange channel existed between B.subtilis cells and even between completely different species. So far, it seems possible to exchange proteins but also plasmids through these nanotubes. This unheard-of communication might force us to redefine the notion of individuals in bacteria and opens endless possibilities for new applications.

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This is precisely why we wanted to discover more about this phenomenon, so that the synthetic biology community will be able to harness its full potential. We wanted to work on this challenging problem by providing other proofs to support this discovery. We aimed at characterizing the transfer through nanotubes using synthetic biology tools. It was a very bold move since we know very little about the nature, formation and function of nanotubes.

To best characterize the nanotube communication, we created several devices relying on protein or RNA diffusion. Our devices rely on an emitter cell and a receiver cell that amplifies the signal. We chose to work with signaling molecules of different sizes and natures to test thoroughly the diffusion possibilities.

See our work!

The Team:

We are fifteen students from parisian universities coming from many different disciplines who came together to participate in the iGEM competition. Come and meet the Team.

The project:

In February, a team led by Dubey and Ben-Yehuda discovered an extraordinary new form of communication for bacteria: nanotubes between individual cells! This type of link is well known between eukaryotic cells, but here it was observed between cells widely used by synthetic biologists (Bacillus subtilis). We decided to investigate this new communication way in details using the tools synthetic biology can design. You can find out more about our project in the Project section.

The values:

Ethics and safety are two main concerns when building genetically engineered organisms.

You can visit our Human practice work and our safety page.

Achievements

List of all our achievements during the summer:

Reproduced the GFP experiment of the original paper
Reproduced the antibiotic experiment of the original paper and proposed an alternative explanation for the results

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 <h2>Using synthetic biology to investigate newly discovered biological phenomena</h2>
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-<p>The recent discovery of <em>nanotubes between individual <i>B.subtilis</i></em> by Dubey and Ben-Yehuda spiked our interest. Through very detailed and advanced microscopy, they showed nanotubes forming between cells and that a wide rande of proteins could pass through this communication channel (GFP, calcein, antibiotics, ...). They also showed signs of communication between <i>B.subtilis</i> and <i>E.coli</i>, another species entirely. With these synthetic-biology-friendly bacterium and a potentially non-specific cell-to-cell transportation system, the possibilities for designing new systems seem endless!</p>
+<p>In a recent paper, Dubey and Ben-Yehuda discovered a new cell-to-cell communication system: nanotubes. Through excellent electronic microscopy images, antibiotic resistance transfer and faint fluorescence transfer they showed that a <em>previously unknown exchange channel</em> existed between B.subtilis cells and even between completely different species. So far, it seems possible to exchange proteins but also plasmids through these nanotubes. This unheard-of communication might force us to <em>redefine the notion of individuals in bacteria</em> and opens endless possibilities for new applications.</p>
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-<p>Our goal this summer was to see how the synthetic biology community could harness the power of <a href="https://2011.igem.org/Team:Paris_Bettencourt/Potential_Application">amorphous computation</a> and <a href="https://2011.igem.org/Team:Paris_Bettencourt/Potential_Application">metabolic engineering</a> of this nanotube network. Each cell is potentially a tiny individual computer linked directly and only to its closest neighbours. The existence of the so-called nanotubes is however still debated.</p>
+<p>This is precisely why we wanted to discover more about this phenomenon, so that the synthetic biology community will be able to harness its full potential. We wanted to work on this challenging problem by providing other proofs to support this discovery. We aimed at <em>characterizing the transfer through nanotubes</em> using synthetic biology tools. It was a very bold move since we know very little about the nature, formation and function of nanotubes. </p>
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-<p>We decided therefore to <em>investigate</em> this phenomenon and <em>characterize</em> it using the tools of synthetic biology . We created <em>new <i>B.subtilis</i> BioBricks</em>, filling a surprising hole in the part registry since very few iGEM teams worked on this organism in the past. Those BioBricks were used to provide <em>new evidence</em> supporting the existence of a nanotube network.</p>
+<p>To <em>best characterize the nanotube</em> communication, we created <em>several devices relying on protein or RNA diffusion</em>. Our devices rely on an emitter cell and a receiver cell that amplifies the signal. We chose to work with signaling molecules of different sizes and natures to test thoroughly the diffusion possibilities.</p>
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