Difference between revisions of "Part:BBa K1586002"

Latest revision as of 18:55, 18 September 2015

EsxB synthetic toehold switch J23100 STOP

Usage and Biology

A toehold switch is a type of RNA molecule known as a riboregulator/riboswitch. It is able to detect the presence of a specific ssRNA molecule (termed the 'trigger RNA') which has a sequence complementary to its switch region through base pairing. If the correct RNA molecule is detected, the protein coding region of the toehold is expressed.

A toehold switch is unique in comparison to other types of riboswitches as it is completely synthetic, and therefore easier to engineer and standardise. The fact that the toehold switch can be modified means that the switch region can be easily changed to detect any given trigger RNA molecule, and the protein coding region can be swapped for any desired reporter protein most suitable for its application.

As shown by Exeter iGEM 2015, toehold switches can be used to detect specific RNA molecules in a cell-free system. In addition to this, the plasmid DNA encoding the toehold switch can be transformed into cells in order to ascertain whether a gene is being expressed (through detection of its mRNA). The applications of this technology can range from a research tool (e.g. detection of secreted RNA in cell supernatant, detection of gene expression, etc.), through to more commercial/medical applications such as diagnostic testing.

The Part

Part K1586002 encodes for an adaptable and standardised synthetic toehold switch. This toehold switch was built to contain a standard promoter (J23100), RBS (B0032), and GFP (E0040). It also contains a premature STOP codon at position 114, which allows it to be used as a negative control in experimentation. A functional version of this part can be found as part BBa_K1586003.

Sequence and Features