Difference between revisions of "Team:Chalmers Gothenburg"

Line 1: Line 1:
−
 
+
{{:Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/bootstrap}}
−
{{Chalmers_Gothenburg}}
+
{{:Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/style}}
−
 
+
{{:Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/jquery}}
 +
{{:Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/script}}
  
 
<html>
 
<html>
  
−
<body>
+
  <head>
 +
    <meta charset="utf-8">
 +
   
 +
    <!--The segment below is necessary for importing html pages. We probably have to do it the dumb wiki way later-->
 +
    <script type="text/javascript">
 +
      $( document ).ready(function(){
 +
        $("#header_navbar").load("https://2016.igem.org/Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/header_navbar");
 +
        $("#footer").load("footer.html");
 +
      });
 +
    </script>
 +
   
  
−
<div class="column full_size" >
+
    <!--This script is used to change slides automatically. Needs the correct number of slides!-->
−
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/thumb/4/43/T--Chalmers_Gothenburg--Team_Photo_Lappstiftet.jpg/800px-T--Chalmers_Gothenburg--Team_Photo_Lappstiftet.jpg">
+
    <script type="text/javascript">
−
</div>
+
      var sliderTimer=setTimeout(autoChangeSlide,10000);
 +
   
 +
      function autoChangeSlide() {
 +
      if (document.getElementById('slide1').checked) {
 +
        document.getElementById("slide2").checked = true;
 +
      } else if (document.getElementById('slide2').checked) {
 +
      document.getElementById("slide3").checked = true;
 +
      } else if (document.getElementById('slide3').checked) {
 +
      document.getElementById("slide4").checked = true;
 +
      } else if (document.getElementById('slide4').checked) {
 +
      document.getElementById("slide5").checked = true;
 +
      } else if (document.getElementById('slide5').checked) {
 +
      document.getElementById("slide1").checked = true;
 +
      }
 +
      sliderTimer=setTimeout(autoChangeSlide,10000);
 +
      }
 +
     
 +
      function resetSliderTimer() {
 +
        clearTimeout(sliderTimer);
 +
        sliderTimer=setTimeout(autoChangeSlide,15000);
 +
      }
 +
    </script>
 +
   
 +
  <title>Chalmers Gothenburg iGEM 2016</title>
 +
  </head>
  
−
<h2>Project description</h2>
+
  <body class="home">
 +
   
 +
    <div id="header_navbar_top">
 +
      <div id="header_navbar_top_title">Turning Pollution into a Solution</div>
 +
      <div id="header_navbar_top_logo"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/6/63/T--Chalmers_Gothenburg--team_logo_2016_302x170px.png" alt="logo" style="height:170px;"></div>
 +
    </div>
 +
     
  
−
<p>Current commercial production of many chemicals is based on fossil sources of carbon. This inevitably results in staggering amounts of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere of the Earth (in excess of 35 billion tonnes annually<sup><a href="#fn1" id="ref1">1</a></sup>). Though carbon dioxide itself is not very toxic, the current increasing atmospheric concentrations of this greenhouse gas has a massive effect on the ecosystems of the planet as well as human quality of life. Examples of this is the acidification of oceans and an increasing mean temperature of the earth.</p>
+
    <div id="header_navbar_wrapper">
 +
      <!--<div id="header_navbar"></div>-->
 +
      </html>{{:Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/header_navbar}}<html>
 +
    </div>    
  
−
<p>These problems can be mediated by replacing petrochemical-based production with a sustainable production method based on biosynthesis in microorganisms. This is currently applied in the production of bioethanol, which uses a process very similar to fermenting alcoholic beverages. However, this requires large amounts of sugars used as the carbon source, which is currently taken from plant-based materials such as corn and sugarcane<sup><a href="#fn2" id="ref2">2</a></sup>. This has a significant impact on the quality of life in developing parts of the world, where crops are grown and sold for fuel production instead of feeding the local population, leading to a substantial increase in food prices<sup><a href="#fn3" id="ref3">3</a>,<a href="#fn4" id="ref4">4</a></sup>.</p>
+
    <div class="wrap"> <!--To limit the width of the site-->
  
−
<p><b>How can we solve the problem of increasing levels of carbon dioxide and the social issues caused by current substrate production?</p></b>
+
      <div class="wrap-content-no-side-nav">
 +
 +
     
 +
      <!-- Slider Setup -->
 +
<div class="bigslider">
  
−
<p>Our solution to this problem is to use photosynthetic bacteria to produce the carbon substrate needed for industrial fermentation. The carbon fixation ability of cyanobacteria allows for the direct conversion of carbon dioxide into a usable carbon source that the cyanobacterium then secretes. The secreted carbon source can be converted into a useful product using biosynthesis. Biosynthesis refers to the production of complex molecules within living organisms or cells. A variety of microorganisms, such as <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i>, <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> and many more, are already used in the industry today for this purpose.</p>
+
<input checked type=radio name=slider id=slide1 onchange="resetSliderTimer()" />
−
 
+
<input type=radio name=slider id=slide2 onchange="resetSliderTimer()" />
−
<p>There are several approaches that can be used for this kind of system. The cyanobacterium could be grown separately and its supernatant could be used as medium for the separate fermentation for the production organism. This would mean that the fermentations would still be done in separate batches, similarly to how industrial fermentation is performed today. However, this method requires several purification steps: the cyanobacteria medium has to be separated from the bacteria, and the product of interest has to be separated from the production batch.</p>
+
<input type=radio name=slider id=slide3 onchange="resetSliderTimer()" />
−
 
+
<input type=radio name=slider id=slide4 onchange="resetSliderTimer()" />
−
<p><b>How can we decrease the number of purification steps?</b></p>
+
<input type=radio name=slider id=slide5 onchange="resetSliderTimer()" />
−
 
+
<!-- The Slider -->
−
<p>To solve this issue, we will establish a continuous production system. The proposed system is a co-culture where both organisms are kept in the same container. To prevent one organism from outcompeting the other in the system, the organisms are modified to be metabolically dependent on each other, resulting in a symbiotic system. The modified cyanobacterium (<i>Synechocystis</i>) produces the carbon source that the production organism requires. In return, the production organism produces a specific amino acid that the auxotrophic cyanobacterium requires for survival. In this way we hope to create a self-regulated system that will maintain equilibrium between the two organisms. Furthermore, the auxotrophy of the cyanobacterium makes it non-viable outside the lab environment, preventing unwanted spread of the bacteria.</p>
+
−
 
+
<div id=slides>
−
<p><b>Why not produce chemicals directly from Synechocystis?</b></b>
+
−
 
+
<div id=overflow>
−
<p>Converting carbon dioxide into useful molecules is an ability that makes cyanobacteria interesting as a production system for the biotech industry. However, with this ability a few disadvantages arise. One of them is a slower growth rate, and therefore a longer recovery time, after performing genetic modifications. Furthermore, the genetic tools needed for genetic modification are not as developed as for industrially used organisms like <i>E. coli</i> and <i>S. cerevisiae</i>. This makes introduction of new synthesis pathways slower in cyanobacteria than it is in other well-studied species. Therefore, we leave the production of chemicals to the organisms that have already proven themselves well suited for this task.</p>
+
−
 
+
<div class=inner>
−
<p>The carbon source that the cyanobacterium is modified to overproduce is acetate. It was chosen since it is naturally present in the metabolism of cyanobacteria. Furthermore, acetate production by <i>Synechocystis</i> has been shown to be possible both in previous publications<sup><a href="#fn5" id="ref5">5</a></sup> and iGEM projects<sup><a href="#fn6" id="ref6">6</a></sup>. Overproduction of acetate in <i>Synechocystis</i> is achieved by knock-outs and knock-ins of genes involved in acetate metabolism. The cyanobacterium is also made auxotrophic for arginine or glutamine to make it reliant on the production organism and prevent it from surviving outside the lab. In this case, the arginine auxotrophic bacteria will be co-cultured with prokaryotic production organisms and the glutamine auxotrophs with eukaryotic organisms.</p>
+
−
 
+
<article>
−
<p><b>What production organisms will we use in this project?</b></p>
+
<div class="info-container"><div class=info><h3>Turning pollution into a solution</h3><a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/Project">Learn more about our project idea</a></div></div>
−
 
+
<a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/Project"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/a/a7/T--Chalmers_Gothenburg--slideshow_project.png" /></a>
−
<p>Four different industrially relevant organisms are modified to be compatible with the symbiotic production system. These are <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i>, <i>Escherichia coli</i>, <i>Yarrowia lipolytica</i> and <i>Bacillus subtilis</i>. As described earlier, all production organisms will have to produce an amino acid that the cyanobacterium requires. Due to the difference in metabolism and regulation of amino acid synthesis, it proved difficult to make all organisms secrete the same amino acid. Therefore the eukaryotes (<i>S. cerevisiae</i> and <i>Y. lipolytica</i>) are modified to secrete glutamine and the prokaryotes (<i>E. coli</i> and <i>B. subtilis</i>) are engineered to secrete arginine.</p>
+
</article>
−
 
+
−
<p>All of the production organisms except for <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> are capable of growing on acetate in their wild type state. An operon from its cousin <i>Bacillus licheniformis</i> is therefore incorporated into the <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> strain. We have chosen to work with <i>B. subtilis</i> over <i>B. licheniformis</i> due to the expertise available at our lab and the biobrick library available for this organism.</p>
+
−
 
+
<article>
−
<p>With the four production organisms we will create a library of organisms compatible with the symbiotic production system. Our solution will provide a platform for a versatile system that converts carbon dioxide into everyday products in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.</p>
+
<div class="info-container"><div class=info><h3>The Team</h3><a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/Team/Students">Meet the students</a></div></div>
−
 
+
<a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/Team/Students"><img src=https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/2/29/T--Chalmers_Gothenburg--slideshow_team_photo.png /></a>
−
<h2>Our sponsors</h2>
+
</article>
−
 
+
−
<ul>
+
−
<li><a href="http://www.snapgene.com/">SnapGene</a></li>
+
<article>
−
<li><a href='https://www.megazyme.com/'>Megazymes</a></li>
+
<div class="info-container"><div class=info><h3>Achievements</h3><a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/Achievements">Learn more about our results</a></div></div>
−
<li><a href="http://www.chalmers.se/en/Pages/default.aspx">Chalmers University of Technology</a></li>
+
<a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/Achievements"><img src=https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/9/93/T--Chalmers_Gothenburg--slideshow_achievements.png /></a>
−
<li><a href="https://eu.idtdna.com/site">IDT</a></li>
+
</article>
−
<li><a href="https://www.neb.com/">NEB</a></li>
+
−
</ul>
+
<article>
−
 
+
<div class="info-container"><div class=info><h3>Human Practices</h3><a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/Human_Practices">Learn more about our public outreach</a></div></div>
−
<hr>
+
<a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/Human_Practices"><img src=https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/2/29/T--Chalmers_Gothenburg--slideshow_team_photo.png /></a>
−
 
+
</article>
−
<sup id="fn1">1. "Trends in global CO2 emissions - 2015 report - EDGAR - Europa.eu." 2015. 28 Jun. 2016 (<a href="http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/news_docs/jrc-2015-trends-in-global-co2-emissions-2015-report-98184.pdf">http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/news_docs/jrc-2015-trends-in-global-co2-emissions-2015-report-98184.pdf</a>)<a href="#ref1" title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.">&#8617;</a></sup>
+
−
 
+
<article>
−
<br>
+
<div class="info-container"><div class=info><h3>Modeling</h3><a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/Model">Look at our fancy simulations</a></div></div>
 +
<a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/Model"><img src=https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/4/4e/T--Chalmers_Gothenburg--slideshow_equations.png /></a>
 +
</article>
 +
 +
</div> <!-- .inner -->
 +
 +
</div> <!-- #overflow -->
 +
 +
</div> <!-- #slides -->
 
 
−
<sup id="fn2">2. Ranalli, Paolo. <i>Improvement of crop plants for industrial end uses.</i> Paolo Ranalli. The Netherlands: springer, 2007.<a href="#ref2" title="Jump back to footnote 2 in the text.">&#8617;</a></sup>
+
 +
<!-- Controls and Active Slide Display -->
 +
 +
<div id=controls>
  
−
<br>
+
<label for=slide1></label>
 +
<label for=slide2></label>
 +
<label for=slide3></label>
 +
<label for=slide4></label>
 +
<label for=slide5></label>
 +
 +
</div> <!-- #controls -->
 +
 +
<div id=active>
  
−
<sup id="fn3">3. Babcock, Bruce A. "The impact of US biofuel policies on agricultural price levels and volatility." <i>China Agricultural Economic Review</i> 4.4 (2012): 407-426.<a href="#ref3" title="Jump back to footnote 3 in the text.">&#8617;</a></sup>
+
<label for=slide1></label>
−
 
+
<label for=slide2></label>
−
<br>
+
<label for=slide3></label>
−
 
+
<label for=slide4></label>
−
<sup id="fn4">4. Gao, Zhengxu et al. "Photosynthetic production of ethanol from carbon dioxide in genetically engineered cyanobacteria." <i>Energy &amp; Environmental Science</i> 5.12 (2012): 9857-9865.<a href="#ref4" title="Jump back to footnote 4 in the text.">&#8617;</a></sup>
+
<label for=slide5></label>
−
 
+
−
<br>
+
</div>
 +
 +
</div>
 +
     
 +
     
 +
     
 +
     
 +
        <!--Description-->
 +
       
 +
      <div class="target" id="project_description">
 +
         
 +
          <h1 class="subtitle">The project</h1>
 +
       
  
−
<sup id="fn5">5. Anfelt, Josefine et al. "Genetic and nutrient modulation of acetyl-CoA levels in Synechocystis for n-butanol production." <i>Microbial cell factories</i> 14.1 (2015): 1.<a href="#ref5" title="Jump back to footnote 5 in the text.">&#8617;</a></sup>
+
          <p class="text">
 +
            Current methods of chemical synthesis from petroleum have led to great environmental
 +
            disruption and continue to be a strong contributor to the emission of greenhouse gases.
 +
            Biosynthesis is known to be the most viable alternative to the aforementioned methods.  
 +
            However, biosynthesis of certain products has a high cost-to-benefit ratio, with substrate
 +
            comprising over 60% of the total costs for industrial fermentation in most cases. With this
 +
            in mind, our solution is to create a self-sustaining microbial production platform that produces
 +
            its own substrate using photosynthesis. Our project revolves around creating a co-culture where
 +
            a cyanobacterium provides the heterotrophic production organisms with the carbon source. In
 +
            return, the production organism provides an amino acid the auxotrophic cyanobacterium needs. By
 +
            making several different species compatible with the synthetic symbiosis, our platform will allow
 +
            for efficient conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide into desired products in an environmentally
 +
            friendly and sustainable way.
 +
          </p>
  
−
<br>
 
  
−
<sup id="fn6">6. "Team:Amsterdam - 2015.igem.org." 2015. 30 Jun. 2016 (<a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Amsterdam">https://2015.igem.org/Team:Amsterdam</a>)<a href="#ref6" title="Jump back to footnote 6 in the text.">&#8617;</a></sup>
 
  
−
</body>
+
         
 +
         
 +
   
 +
        </div>
 +
        </div>
 +
      </html>{{:Team:Chalmers_Gothenburg/footer}}<html>
 +
     
 +
     
 +
    </div>
 +
   
 +
 
 +
  </body>
  
 
</html>
 
</html>

Revision as of 11:09, 31 August 2016

Chalmers Gothenburg iGEM 2016

Turning Pollution into a Solution

The project

Current methods of chemical synthesis from petroleum have led to great environmental disruption and continue to be a strong contributor to the emission of greenhouse gases. Biosynthesis is known to be the most viable alternative to the aforementioned methods. However, biosynthesis of certain products has a high cost-to-benefit ratio, with substrate comprising over 60% of the total costs for industrial fermentation in most cases. With this in mind, our solution is to create a self-sustaining microbial production platform that produces its own substrate using photosynthesis. Our project revolves around creating a co-culture where a cyanobacterium provides the heterotrophic production organisms with the carbon source. In return, the production organism provides an amino acid the auxotrophic cyanobacterium needs. By making several different species compatible with the synthetic symbiosis, our platform will allow for efficient conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide into desired products in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.