Lactate Detection
Biobrick Assembly
Figure 1: 1% agarose, 100V.
Check the size of insert.
Length: pUCIDT(2705 bp)- J23118-LldR(1006 bp)
Length: pUCIDT(2705 bp)- O1-J23118-O2-GFP(1235 bp)
Sample 1: pUCIDT-J23118-LldR without digestion
Sample 2: pUCIDT-J23118-LldR digested with EcoRI and PstI
Sample 3: pUCIDT-O1-J23118-O2-GFP without digestion
Sample 4: pUCIDT-O1-J23118-O2-GFP digested with EcoRI and PstI
After our IDT plasmid DNA arrived, the most important thing was checking the insert size was correct or not. We digested (EcoRI-PstI) it to check the size of plasmid. From the agarose gel result, we can confirm the inserts are correct.
Figure 2: 1% agarose, 100V.
Check the size of pSB1A2.
Length: pSB1A2(2079 bp)-E0032(762 bp) digested with EcoRI and PstI
Sample 1: pSB1A2-E0032 without digestion
Sample 2: pSB1A2-E0032 digested with EcoRI and PstI
From this agarose gel we can confirm the size of backbone that we wanted was right. Next, it is the time to assemble them together !!
Figure 3: 1% agarose, 100V.
Check the size of assemble
[pSB1A2 (2079 bp)]-[O1-J23118-O2-GFP-J23118-LldR (2241 bp)].
Sample 1: [pSB1A2(2079 bp)]-[O1-J23118-O2-GFP-J23118-LldR(2241 bp)] digested with EcoRI and PstI
Sample 2: [pSB1A2(2079 bp)]-[O1-J23118-O2-GFP-J23118-LldR(2241 bp)] digested with EcoRI and PstI
Sample 3: [pSB1A2(2079 bp)]-[O1-J23118-O2-GFP-J23118-LldR(2241 bp)] digested with EcoRI and PstI
Lactate detect function test
After finish assembling our parts, we did some function tests, to find the relationship between GFP expression and lactate level.
Figure 4: Fluorescent intensity of different lactate concentration depends on time.
We found that even though fluorescent intensity in different concentration of lactate floats, the spacing of each data are stable expect data 10 mM. It seems that lactate concentration is saturated when it reaches 8 mM.
- (a)The fluorescent intensity of different lactate concentration depends on time.
Figure 5: Fluorescent intensity of different time depends on lactate level.
The interval 120 minute ≤ time ≤210 minute, the fluorescent intensity of different concentration of lactate is similar. Positive correlation exists between fluorescent intensity and concentration of lactate at the interval 120 minute ≤ time ≤270 minute.
- (b)Fluorescent intensity of different time period depends on lactate level.
Figure 6: Combine Figure 4 and Figure 5 together.
We found that fluorescent level was high at the beginning. The general trend of fluorescent level became pronounced and stable as time goes on.
- (c)It’s quite interesting that the fluorescent level had always been very high at the beginning but fell as time passed by, even in negative control. The tendency of the whole line is similar. And if we just look at a single time point (b), a highly positive correlation between fluorescent intensity and lactate level can be observed.
From figure 4~6, we found that there is a positive correlation between lactate concentration and fluorescent level. We took several points from 210 min and 270 min to create figures which are shown below.
Figure 7 Fluorescent intensity vs. Concentration of lactate at time=210 min
Figure 8 Fluorescent intensity vs. Concentration of lactate at time=270 min
We can see that the error bar is large in low concentration of lactate but is small in high concentration. We also find that it seems to have a high positive correlation between fluorescent intensity and lactate concentration between 2 mM and 8 mM of concentration of lactate. It shown that R2 reach 0.9957 at time 210 min and R2 reach 0.9965 at time 270 min. At time 270 min, R2 reach 0.9552 between 0 mM and 10 mM of concentration of lactate.
Summary
At first, we thought that the high level expression of CSP in the beginning is due to bad expression rate of LldR (inhibitor) and leakage of GFP. After 90 minutes, the expression of LldR was better so the fluorescence decrease. But we noticed that the negative control (E.coli that without fluorescent gene) tendency is similar with other data, we thought that maybe there is an intra-system error lead this result.
CSP Detection
PCR result
Prove that we successfully transformed our plasmid into E.coli, DH5α.
a. pSBBS1C
The DNA size we expect to show up is 2563 bp, hence from the electrophoresis gel photos above, we can say that the plasmid DNA in well number 1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 19, 21, 24, 25, 27, 28 are those we want, and the corresponding patch are those that are successfully transformed.
b. pSBBS4S
The DNA size we expect to show up is 1344 bp, hence from the electrophoresis gel photos above, we can say that the plasmid DNA in all wells, except well number 5, 17, 18, 31, are the ones we want, and the corresponding patch are those bacteria that has been successfully transformed.
the results of Bacillus subtilis competence cell preparation and transformation.
1. Growth curve of Bacillus subtilis strain 168
2. Transformation check for pSBBS1C
Since the amyE locus is knocked out, the transformed Bacillus subtilis won’t be able to digest starch. Hence when it is patched onto starch plate and placed overnight, there shouldn’t be a bright orange surrounding the colonies when Lugol’s iodine is added.
Functional test results
According to the measurement of absorbance of wavelength 595 nm, we can confirm that CSP isn't toxic to Bacillus Subtilis.
And for the measurement of the fluorescent plate reader (excitation: 485 nm, emission: 520 nm), we found out that the best amount of bacteria for measuring, the CSP conc. is at the value of OD600 = 0.2 after a series of experiment.
The intensity of fluorescence slowly drops after a sharp rise in a small amount of time, hence we can tell that the reaction starts right away as soon as CSP is added.
The fluorescence emitted at OD600 0.2 has a positive correlation with the conc. of CSP added. However, the fluorescence emitted by Bacillus subtilis is lower when a higher concentration of CSP is added, which doesn’t correspond to our expectation. And we are still figuring out what’s going on!
