Team:UNebraska-Lincoln/design

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Parts

Basic Parts

Nitrate Reductase (napDABC)

A coding sequence for the synthetic operon that encodes for four of the proteins that make up the periplasmic nitrate reductase. This protein comprise one of the pathways native to E. coli that is responsible for reducing nitrate ions to nitrite ions. After researching the protein, we determined the genes essential for the synthesis of the reductase. Portions of the nap operon isolated from E. coli, as well as some parts which we ordered from IDT. The full details of this basic part can be found Here

serA

This gene codes for D-3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase, an enzyme catalyzing the committed step in serine biosynthesis. This part was designed and isolated in order to complement an auxotrophic strain of E. coli which is unable to produce serine. This part can be complemented with any BioBrick-compatible promoter for the design of a kill-switch. We used this basic part in the formation of our composite part, a PyeaR-serA kill switch. The full details and characterization of this basic part can be found Here

Composite Part

Nitrate-Sensitive Kill Switch (PyeaR-SerA)

A composite part designed to act as a nitrate-sensitive kill-switch. The yeaR promoter was originally used by the Edinburgh 2009 iGEM team and was shown to be nitrate sensitive. By complementing the promoter with the serA basic part, it’s capable of acting as a kill-switch. The kill switch complements a ΔserA strain of E. coli under high nitrate concentration conditions, but causes the E. coli to die under low nitrate conditions. The full description of this composite part can be found Here