Introduction: What is InterLab?
Standardisation is one of the main principles of synthetic biology. This includes a standard way of making measurements and expressing quantities across labs around the world. Standardisation is challenging for fluorescent measurements of genetic constructs because different labs use different protocols for making constructs, for measuring and for processing fluorescence. Without a standard way of expressing fluorescence it is extremely difficult to compare measurements for repeats of the same part from different labs or for different constructs. The iGEM InterLab study aims to standardise the way that fluorescent measurements are made and therefore make comparisons easier.
This year, iGEM has provided a standard protocol for making measurements in a plate reader, a spectrophotometer or a flow cytometer. In addition, to remove variations in the production of the constructs, all biobricks to be tested have been sent in plasmid form. A standard way of data processing has also been devised by iGEM HQ by sending a preconstructed Excel data sheet where each team will input its data and fluorescence would be calculated automatically in a standardised way.
Overview
Constructs
The Interlab study of 2016 aims to characterise the strength of 3 constitutive promoters from the Anderson Collection by measuring the fluorescence of the GFP encoded downstream of each of the promoters (promoter strength is proportional to GFP fluorescence). The three constructs, named Test Device 1,2 and 3 (TD1, TD2, TD3), include one of the promoters (J23101, J23106 and J23117 respectively) and share the RBS (B0034), GFP (E0040) and the transcriptional terminator (B0015).
Test Devices
Test Device 1 (TD1):
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/6/61/T--Oxford--plasmid1.png)
Test Device 2 (TD2):
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/5/5d/T--Oxford--plasmid2.png)
Test Device 3 (TD3):
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/f/f0/T--Oxford--plasmid3.png)
Experimental Controls
The InterLab Measurement Kit included 2 controls. The Positive Control (PC) consists of the constitutively expressed GFP device (I20270) and the Negative Control consists of the pTetR promoter (R0040) with no coding sequence downstream of it. All five constructs were already in the pSB1C3 plasmid which carries chloramphenicol resistance.
Positive control (PC):
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/7/76/T--Oxford--plasmid4.png)
Negative control (NC):
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/6/6b/T--Oxford--plasmid5.png)
Methods and materials
Plate reader: Materials
Plate readerFor OD600nm and fluorescence measurements the BMG Labtech FLUOstar Omega plate reader was used. 2 plate reader scripts were created, one for OD600 and one for fluorescence. Our solutions were measured in Costar 96-well plates.
OD600 scriptThe excitation filter was 600nm and the number of flashes per well was set to 22. Pathlength correction was turned off.
Fluorescence scriptThe excitation filter was set to 485-12nm and the emission filter to 520nm. The number of flashes per well was set to 20 and the bottom optic was used for the measurements.
Calibration protocols
OD600 reference point measurementLUDOX S30 from the InterLab Measurement Kit was thawed. 100μl of LUDOX S30 was added a COSTAR 96-well plate, in wells A1, B1, C1 and D1. The same was repeated with dH2O in wells A2, B2, C2 and D2. The OD600 script was used to measure the OD in each of the eight wells. The data was used to produce a correction factor. The correction factor would later be used to transform the measured OD600 raw data to standard OD600 measurements.
FITC fluorescence and standard curveThe FITC (black test tube) from the InterLab Measurement Kit was centrifuged (10 seconds, 13krpm) to make sure that the pellet was at the bottom of the tube. 1ml of 1xPBS was added in the tube to make a 2x FITC stock (500μM). The solution was incubated for 4 hours at 42C but because FITC was not completely dissolved the solution was incubated overnight. The stock was then further diluted to 1x FITC (250μM). 200μl of the 1x FITC solution was added to wells A1, B1, C1 and D1 in a COSTAR 96-well plate. 100μl 1x PBS was added to wells A2-12, B2-12, C2-12, D2-12. 100μl from A1 was transferred to A2. The new dilution was mixed and the process was repeated until A11 was reached. 100μl out of the final 200μl in well A11 was discarded. The process was repeated for rows B,C and D. The fluorescence script on the plate reader was used to measure the fluorescence. Data was then exported to the Excel Data Sheet from iGEM and the calibration curve was created.
Resuspension
The five test tubes containing the plasmid constructs were taken out of the InterLab Measurement Kit and centrifuged at maximum speed (13.0 krpm) for 10 seconds in order to deposit the liquid at the bottom of the tube. 100μl of MilliQ (ultrapure water) were then added to the tubes to make a final concentration of 9.09ng/ml (initial volume and concentration were 10μl and 100pg/uL). The solutions were centrifuged again to make sure that everything in the tube was properly dissolved. The diluted plasmid DNA was stored at -4C.
Transformation
Competent E. coli (DH5α strain) were produced and used for transformation. Aliquots of 100μl were taken out of the -80C freezer and thawed on ice (~-4C). Plasmid DNA and chloramphenicol (stock solution of 30mg/ml) was put on ice as well for thawing. Once the 100μl of DH5α e. coli were thawed, 5μl of plasmid DNA was added to them. The mixture was left on ice for 30 minutes.
LB agar plate preparation
While the competent bacteria and DNA mixture was on ice, Lysogeny Broth (LB) plates were made. Low salt LB agar was heated in a 900W Panasonic microwave oven. The agar was melted at the “Simmer” heating setting for 2 minute intervals. The heating was repeated until the agar was completely liquefied. This liquid LB was put in a 55C water bath in order to cool down. After reaching the target temperature, the bottle containing the broth was allowed to cool below 55C for 3-5 minutes in order to add chloramphenicol. Chloramphenicol was then added in a 1:1000 ratio to the LB (1μl of chloramphenicol per ml of LB). In a flow cupboard, the solution was poured in Thermofischer sterilin single use petri dishes (25ml per dish) and allowed to resolidify (30-35 minutes)
After 30 minutes, the bacterial/plasmid DNA solutions were heat shocked in a 42C water bath for 45 seconds. They were put on ice again for 1 minute and then 800μl of the iGEM supplied SOC was added. This was then incubated at 37C for 1 hour at 400rpm.
After the end of incubation, 100μl of the solution for each part was added on separate LB agar plates to make the “dilute” plates. The rest of the solutions were centrifuged for 1 minute at 13krpm in order to deposit any remaining bacteria at the bottom of the testubes. The supernatant was decanted and the plaque was resuspended in 100μl of SOC. This second solution was used to make the “concentrated” LB plate for each construct. This was done in case the “dilute” plate wouldn’t produce any colonies. The solution in each plate was spread using sterile glass beads which were removed after the spreading. All the plates were taped and put in a 37C incubator overnight.
Picking colonies:
The following day, plates were taken out of the incubator and put -4C. In the afternoon, 10ml of liquid LB was pipetted in sterile glass test tubes and 5μl of chloramphenicol was added to each solution. 2 test tubes were prepared for each construct (10 in total). Using P200 pipette tips, 2 colonies for each construct were picked from their respective plates. Each tip was dropped in each test tube. The test tubes were put in a 37C, 225rpm incubator overnight (16-18 hours).
Extracting the plasmid DNA
A QIAprep Spin Miniprep Kit (250) was used to extract the plasmid DNA from the overnight cultures (see protocol on the Protocols page). The extracted DNA solution concentration was measured using ThermoScientific’s NanoDrop 1000 spectrophotometer by blanking it first with MilliQ and then adding 2μl of plasmid solution. The DNA solutions were diluted to a value close to 100μl. 10μl of each DNA construct was then aliquoted into fresh test tubes and sent for sequencing (SourceBioScience, UK) to confirm the nature of the plasmids. Primers created for our project used to sequence our own constructs in pSB1C3 were also sent.
In silico cloning and sequence alignment
On the iGEM interlab webpage there are no files with the complete sequence of the five constructs in the pSB1C3 plasmid. Therefore, the Registry of Standard Biological Parts was used to find all five construct (PC, NC, TD1, TD2, TD3) and plasmid backbone (pSB1C3) sequences. Each construct was digested in silico using SnapGene, the molecular biology software. Digestion was done with EcoRI for the biobrick prefix and with PstI for the suffix. The same was done for the plasmid backbone. Each construct was then ligated into the plasmid to give the final recombinant sequence. After receiving the sequences back, we aligned each sequence with the target plasmid again. Once alignment was confirmed, colonies were re-picked in order to start experimentation.
Plate reader: Cell Measurement Protocol
Initially, the OD600 of the overnight cultures was measured. The data was imported into the Normalisation tab of the Excel Data Sheet provided by iGEM. The sheet calculated the amount of medium with antibiotic (liquid LB with chloramphenicol) to add in order to make the solutions reach a target OD600 of 0.02. Under a flame, the appropriate amount of medium and bacterial solution for each construct was added in 15ml falcon tubes to make a final volume of 10ml. The solutions were mixed and 100μl from each was aliquoted into prechilled test tubes as a recording for 0h. The rest of the solution was put in a 37C 225rpm incubator. Aliquots were removed and frozen every hour at 1h, 2h, 3h, 4h, 5h and 6h. At the end all samples were loaded into the 96-well plate in the same layout as the one suggested by the iGEM plate reader protocol. A single measurement was then made in the plate reader. The data was recorded in the iGEM Data Excel Sheet and sent to measurement@igem.org.