Difference between revisions of "Team:Cardiff Wales"

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<p  align="left" style="background-color:#ffffff"> <br><br> Primarily we will develop tools for plant synthetic biology using the golden gate phytobricks standard. We will take previously characterized promotor elements that respond to a variety of environmental stimuli and move these into the phytobrick standard. These promotor elements will be used to generate TUs that drive reporter gene expression and will represent useful tools for future iGEM teams.
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<p  align="left" style="background-color:#ffffff"> <br><br> The Cardiff iGEM team of 2017 aimed to produce a high level of gene expression from four promoter constructs, in the <i> Nicotiana benthamiana </i> expression system. These constructs were put together using golden gate ligation. Our promoters are native to <i> Arabidopsis thaliana </i>, and have been characterized previously. They respond to several different environmental stimuli. We aimed to both quantify their expression levels using luciferase transcriptional units, and use them to create a thyroid stimulating hormone (and thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin) antagonist that could be used to treat Graves' disease. Consequently, we have added several parts to the phytobrick registry. Our antagonist, called TSHantag, has not been previously used as a therapeutic agent, and could be tested <i> in vitro </i> if purified.
 
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Secondly we will use these phytobricks to express the composite TSHantag protein, which is an antagonist for Graves Disease, caused by hyperthyroidism. The TSHantag has not previously been used as a therapeutic agent so we will use the tobacco gene expression system to produce high levels of the protein, which will then be tested in a human <i>in vitro</i> system by collaborators at the Cardiff University Medical School.
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We have expertise using the tobacco expression system and so welcomed collaborations with iGEM teams who wish to test the function of their proteins in plants! <br><br><br> </p>
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We have expertise using the tobacco expression system so will welcome collaborations with iGEM teams who wish to test the function of their proteins in plants! <br><br><br> </p>
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Revision as of 16:32, 25 October 2017




Benth Biofactory






The Cardiff iGEM team of 2017 aimed to produce a high level of gene expression from four promoter constructs, in the Nicotiana benthamiana expression system. These constructs were put together using golden gate ligation. Our promoters are native to Arabidopsis thaliana , and have been characterized previously. They respond to several different environmental stimuli. We aimed to both quantify their expression levels using luciferase transcriptional units, and use them to create a thyroid stimulating hormone (and thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin) antagonist that could be used to treat Graves' disease. Consequently, we have added several parts to the phytobrick registry. Our antagonist, called TSHantag, has not been previously used as a therapeutic agent, and could be tested in vitro if purified.

We have expertise using the tobacco expression system and so welcomed collaborations with iGEM teams who wish to test the function of their proteins in plants!








Project Abstract



Grave’s Disease arises from the overproduction of the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). Such overproduction leads to increased thyroxine levels, consequently resulting in hyperthyroidism. Our project will involve the expression of the human thyroid stimulating hormone antagonist (TSHantag) using the Tobacco expression system. As of yet, there have been no examples using the tobacco system for expression of the TSHantag protein. Therefore, we will design and generate unique transcriptional units (TUs) for expression of TSHantag in tobacco. These TUs will be introduced into tobacco using agrobacterium-mediated transformation. We will optimise the amounts of heterologous protein that can be produced in this system before collaborating with researchers at University Hospital of Wales to test the efficacy of the TSHantag in an in vitro system.