Team:NTHU Taiwan/Safety

Safety

In case that our bacteria break every physical and chemical biosafety defenses we designed, we also designed a suicide mechanism inside our E.coli. When our E.coli is inside the PFOA bioremediation basin, four kinds of gene will be constantly expressed: YF1, Fixj, a toxin gene and, an anti-toxin gene. YF1 and Fixj gene encode a blue light sensor.

The toxin gene encode a toxin that can disrupt bacterial metabolic pathway. The anti-toxin gene encode an anti-toxin that can prevent the bacteria from killing by the toxin. But, once the genetically modified bacteria get outside, it will expose to natural light. YF1 and Fixj blue sensor protein will inhibit the expression of anti-toxin, resulting in the death of the bacteria.