Difference between revisions of "Team:Virginia/Description"

Synthetic biologists struggle to prevent the proliferation of genetically engineered organisms (GEOs) in natural systems. Containment methods that operate in ecological settings must provide security comparable to physical containment. Current methods fail to effectively inhibit horizontal gene transfer and environmental supplementation, and impose evolutionary pressure through the propagation of spontaneous revertants. Synthetic Translational Control (STC) currently utilizes a redesigned leucyl-tRNA synthetase and cleavage enzyme in an E. coli chassis to confer metabolic dependence on a synthetically modified leucine capable of conversion to L-leucine. Due to the semi-semantic property of this device, organisms cannot metabolically bypass our constraints using environmental supplementation and will display greater resistance to evolutionary escape relative to traditional synthetic auxotrophs. Our work provides advancement in biosafety by isolating GEOs from the environment via a reliance on modified metabolites. STC will become a benchmark for biocontainment devices and will allow for countless new applications in synthetic biology.

Describe, or link to modeling section