The production of PCBs has been banned in the United States because of possible impact on animal and human health, yet the harmful molecules still contaminate our waters today. Our project involves transferring genes responsible for producing PCB-dechlorinating enzymes from the anaerobic D. mccartyi bacterium, in which they're naturally found, into E.coli, an easier-to-work-with bacterium.

We will be transferring three different genetic variants of the PCB dechlorinating enzyme and will face many challenges in producing the working enzymes. The enzymes probably use norpseudo-B12 as a cofactor, a compound E. coli doesn't naturally create. We are currently researching ways to introduce this into the environment of the E.coli expressing the proteins. The working enzymes also contain iron-sulfer clusters, which will be destroyed upon exposure to oxygen, as the original organism is anaerobic. We are currently looking into different and easy ways to grow E.coli anaerobically and ways to combat this issue. D. mccartyi's membrane is also archea-like and dissimilar to E.coli's membrane, which may cause complications with expression and localization. The enzymes are also transmembrane proteins, which may pose problems.

We will be contacting other labs with higher biosafety levels due to the toxicity of PCBs, to test out our system. We are currently working in lab to transfer our synthesized genetic circuits to E.coli bacteria while we research ways to solve the potential problems listed above. We have also included His tags in our genetic circuits and have partnered with the Baker Lab at the University of Washington to analyze our PCB dechlorinating enzymes in the future.

Attributions

Each team must clearly attribute work done by the student team members on this page. The team must distinguish work done by the students from work done by others, including the host labs, advisors, instructors, and individuals not on the team roster.

This is a bronze medal requirement. Please see the Medals requirements page for more details.

Why is this page needed?

The Attribution requirement helps the judges know what you did yourselves and what you had help with. We don't mind if you get help with difficult or complex techniques, but you must report what work your team did and what work was done by others.

For example, you might choose to work with an animal model during your project. Working with animals requires getting a license and applying far in advance to conduct certain experiments in many countries. This is difficult to achieve during the course of a summer, but much easier if you can work with a postdoc or PI who has the right licenses.

What should this page have?

General Support
Project support and advice
Fundraising help and advice
Lab support
Difficult technique support
Project advisor support
Wiki support
Presentation coaching
Human Practices support
Thanks and acknowledgements for all other people involved in helping make a successful iGEM team

Can we base our project on a previous one?

Yes! You can have a project based on a previous team, or based on someone else's idea, as long as you state this fact very clearly and give credit for the original project.

Inspiration

Take a look at what other teams have done:

2011 Imperial College London (scroll to the bottom)
2014 Exeter
2014 Melbourne
2014 Valencia Biocampus

Team training and Project start

Tell us if your institution teaches an iGEM or synthetic biology class and when you started your project: