Biosafety investigation and considerations for our project

For further investigation, we went to the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy Research, CAs. We consulted professors who worked on years of bioenergy development and microbial fermentation. The safety problems involved in ethanol production by microbial fermentation of cellulose were discussed. Experts say there are many kinds of microorganisms that can degrade cellulose in nature, and the ex-pression of fungal cellulase in engineered yeast is more common. Moreover, the level of exogenous genes expressed by S.cerevisiae is limited. In the long run, the construction of yeast that can utilize cellulose or fiber sugars can effec-tively convert the rich algae waste into a renewable carbon source for use in the bioenergy industry in the future.

To fully investigate the impact of the eruption of Enteromorpha on the marine environment, we went to the first Marine Research Institute of the Chi-nese Academy of Sciences. We understand that the coastal Enteromorpha is mainly from the northern Jiangsu Shoal Aquaculture Wa-ters, a large number of floating Enteromorpha from south to north float-ing to the Yellow Sea coast. The green Tide distributes about 20,000 square kilo-meters, covering an area of about 187 square kilometers. A large number of Enteromorpha in the seaside hoarding, hoarding of algae is very easy to degenerate. Metamorphic algae bring great harm to marine environment and ma-rine life.

Our project goal is to use waste algae residue, reduce their hoarding capacity, improve the utilization rate of Enteromorpha. In the long run, our project is of great significance in solving environmental problems and protecting marine life. In the project design and implementation process, we strictly abide by the safety regulations of the iGEM Committee, more details can refer to our safety page.

Safety project design

Being responsible for our earth and ourselves is our attitude towards every exper-iment. In our project, all the parts we have utilized are selected from Risk Group 1, none of which are with a Red Flag. What’s more, nonpathogenic bacteria, E.coli K12 is employed as the main chassis for our prior design on the DNA sequence. As a matter of fact, when using S. Cerevisiae to express hydrolases of cellobiose and xylopyranose to produce alcohol. Based on this, we will express the resveratrol, enrich the nutritional value of alcohol. Second, the innovation part we also try to mold avidin biotin and chain link E.coli KO11 and yeast, and then co-culture to test whether it can increase the alcohol yield. it is harmless for the growth of bacteria and relatively safe for industrialized applications. For the sake of environments, all the chassis organisms will be steri-lized before being abandoned to prevent the genes from leaking.

Safe lab work

We works at a neat lab named “Lab for Microinnovation and Enterprise”, which is a BSL-2 laboratory. Before working in the lab, we are supposed to be trained by the skillful hands, not only for the general lab safety rules, but also for the stand-ard experimental operation avoiding unnecessary damage. No experiment carries no risk to the experimenters, hence we are properly equipped with facilities, such as latex gloves, nitrile gloves, goggles, lab coats to protect us from biotic and abiotic hazards. For us, lab safety is a hot topic and we have come up with a practical lab safety manual which normalizes our lovely lab.