Team:IIT Madras/Project

And then the E-coli said, "Let there be light"

Proteorhodopsin (GPR) is a light driven membrane channel that pumps out proton. The proton motive force thus generated can be coupled with ATP synthase to provide more energy to the cell. When expressed in E.coli, the cells become light powered if the glycolysis pathway is partially suppressed (upto 70%). We have designed a construct which consists of an engineered carbon stress promoter and the proteorhodopsin gene. We plan to use this construct to act as a nutrient stress buster which would be useful in bioremediation. In addition, we propose that the light powered cells will give better yield of recombinant proteins and be more efficient at substrate utilization for biopolymer synthesis (ex. Hyaluronic Acid, Poly Hydroxy Butyrate). The survival advantage provided by expressing proteorhodopsin provides a novel way of screening for transformants, which can replace antibiotic resistance genes and thus avoid horizontal gene transfer.