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Team:Cambridge/Project
From 2011.igem.org
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Contents |
Bactiridescence - Reflectin' the Future
Reflectins are a recently identified protein family rich in aromatic and sulphur-containing amino acids, responsible for the 'reflective' camouflage exhibited by certain cephalopods. To date, researchers have isolated the protein, over-expressed it in Escherichia coli and shown it to exhibit self-assembling behaviour and a changeable morphology which leads to dynamic manipulation of incident light.
Under in-vitro conditions Kramer et. al produced thin films, photonic gratings and fibres which exhibited structural colour extending across the entire visual spectrum by varying the thickness. In particular the colour change was demonstrated to be reversible. It is hypothesized the colouration is a result of thin film interference.
Within the Atlantic squid Loligo pealeii, Morse et.al found a multi-layer alternating structure of iridophore platelets of reflectin and an unidentified material, each possessing different refractive indices. By studying tissue samples in-vitro the researchers observed conformational changes in the multi-layer structure due to phosphorylation.
As part of our iGEM project we propose to express reflectin in-vivo within Escherichia coli to reproduce the same multi-layer structure. Further we wish to demonstrate the ability to dynamically tune structural colour in-vivo through phosphorylation. Our work will directly impact upon the design of next-generation novel biosensors.
Project Details
Part 2
The Experiments
Part 3
Results
