Revision as of 12:52, 8 October 2023

piG_21 (tetR_bluB_riboK12_mazF_AmpProm_mazE)

BioBrick piG_20 is a plasmid consisting of the tet promoter/repressor, bluB, an AdoCbl riboswitch, MazF, the rrnB terminator, the Amp promoter, MazF and the rrnB terminator. The backbone we used in the experiments is pGGAselect.

Usage and Biology

So far, antibiotic resistances have played a crucial role in genetic engineering, ensuring plasmid retention. Intriguingly, plasmid retention does not guarantee plasmid encoded gene expression, since bacteria can use methods such as methylation or deletion to withdraw from the metabolic burden. This means that bacteria have their ways of not expressing inserted genes, defying the researchers control. This composite biobrick represents a novel tool to ensure not just the presence of a plasmid but also the expression of recombinant genes on it in bacteria. The key idea is to couple the production of a metabolite to the survival of the cell and thereby making it autoregulatory.

==Modularity

Our composite part/biobrick incorporates a riboswitch (<a href="https://parts.igem.org/Part:BBa_K4604031"> BBa_K4604031 </a>), a toxin-antitoxin system (BBa…) and an enzyme (BBa…) needed to boost the Adenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl) production in E. coli. Together, these parts were designed to form an autoregulatory circuit regulating the survival of the engineered cells. The system was tested and developed with AdoCbl production as a proof of principle, letting only AdoCbl producing cells survive. However, this biobrick can be easily adjusted for other purposes where plasmid stability plays an important role. The adjustability originates in the possibility to change the riboswitch (for sensing the desired compound) and the bluB gene (essential for bioproduction). The target compound can be any small molecule either arising from degradation or production, as long as a riboswitch for it exists, which allows the system to detect its presence. The limitation for the need of an already existing riboswitch could possibly be overcome by the use of a synthetic riboswitch made on the basis of an aptamer. Synthetic aptamers can be generated through in vitro systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) which allows for an even broader field of application of the composite part. However, this is a complex process and requires extensive testing which was outside of the capabilities of our iGEM project. The bluB gene can similarly be exchanged with an enzyme that fits the chosen product. The host organism is also variable; even though the biobrick is adapted to use in E. coli, with adjustments of the promoter-/terminator region and the toxin-antitoxin system it could be applicable to any chassis organism. To explore this opportunity we investigated the feasibility of producing AdoCbl in cyanobacteria. Read more on our results in cyanobacteria on the results page.

Sequence and Features