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From 2011.igem.org

April 20th:

After we read an article about how yeast copes with toxic metals in its environment (Wysocki & Tamas, 2010), we made our preliminary decision of engineering a water tester. We discussed what metals we wanted to detect in the environment, and we decided on copper, becase yeast already has a promoter associated with copper, Cup1. We also decided to engineer the yeast cells to fluoresce red, and we chose a translational unit from the iGem registry that would work in yeast. It uses the RFP part to make the yeast fluoresce red. We researched fluorescence, and actually learned the concept behind it. Fluorescence is when waves of light with a high energy level hit the electrons of a substance of a low energy level. The high evergy level waves "excite" the electrons, and moves them into a higher energy orbital for a short time. When the electrons move back down to their original energy state, they have to release energy. This energy is released in the form of light. The color depends on the wavelength of the light, which in turn depends on the difference in the excited energy level of the electron and the normal energy state of the electron. To fluoresce red, the wavelengths emitted must be around 700 wavelengths long.

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