Difference between revisions of "Part:BBa K2955001"

Revision as of 06:40, 21 October 2019

glpA

glpA is a gene native to the bacterium Burkholderia psuedomallei (formerly Psuedomonas) that was found to confer resistance to glyphosate by Penaloza-Vazquez et al (1994). Glyphosate is the main active ingredient in many commercial herbicides. This gene is the first in our two gene system we consucted with the ultimate goal being the degradation of glyphosate. This gene was meant to increase the survivability of E. coli in the presence of glyphosate, based on the results reported by Penaloza-Vazquez et al (1994). The exact mechanism by which resistance to the molecule is increased isn't known, however. Expression of this gene was regulated by pTet.

Usage and Biology

glpA action is believed to be associated with the transport of glyphosate across the cell membrane due to it's homology with native E. coli phosphotransferases. In order to gauge this gene's impact on the ability of the cell to survive the presence of glyphosate, it was tested in both pure glyphosate as well as a commercial formulation of the herbicide, Roundup. Growth curve data was used to determine if glpA confers a survival advantage the cells compared to other E. coli without the gene. The promoter for this gene was pTet but as the cell line used lacked tetR, glpA was constituvely expressed.

Methods

This part was tested by running growth curves under various conditions. Growth curve data was collected using a Bioscreener, Bioscreen C. Overnight cultures of the full plasmid, which had both glpA and glpB (BBa_K2955002), and a control culture were grown overnight in tubes of LB+chloramphenicol at 37C and 220 RPM. 3.0 mL of the tested concentrations of pure glyphosate and Roundup were prepared with 3 uL of chloramphenicol. Each concentration was tested with 4 replicates. Each well was inoculated with 3 uL of cells and 300 uL of the stock concentrations. The plates were left in the Bioscreener for 96 hours at 37 C and meadium shaking. Measurements were taken every 30 minutes. In order to test glpA independently of glpB, no IPTG was added to the wells. Since glpB was regulated by pLac, it should have limited expression in the absence of IPTG.

Results

Sequence and Features