Team:Newcastle/Part Collection
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Part Collection
Sensynova Framework parts
Part range BBa_K2205007 – BBa_K2205025 The Newcastle iGEM team has developed the Sensynova framework to ease biosensor development through the use of mixed cell populations interacting via intercellular communication molecules. Each cell type has a distinct function according a design-pattern determined through systematic review of 121 previous iGEM biosensor projects. The system is detailed in the figure below – The dotted orange lines correspond to the junction between parts. A target molecule is detected by a protein constitutively expressed in our Detector cell. A promoter sensitive to this protein drives the expression of the lasI gene. The LasI protein catalyses the production of 3O-C12 N-acyl homoserine lactone (C12 AHL). C12 AHL diffuses out of the cell and interacts with LasR, which is constitutively expressed in the Processing cell. LasR activates the pLas promoter. In the system, the pLas promoter drives expression of the rhlI gene, producing the RhlI protein which catalysis the formation of our second connector 3O-C4 N-acyl homoserine lactone (C4 AHL). The C4 diffuses out of the cell and interacts with RhlR in the output cell. This complex activates the pRhl promoter which regulates the transcription of an output device, such as a fluorescence protein. Therefore, upon triggering a detection device in the detection cell, intercellular connectors are able to propagate this signal to cells containing processing and output devices. As the connectors used are standard to cell types, cell mixing, rather than genetic re-engineering, can be used to test future processing and output variants. We have demonstrated that biosensors built using this framework are able to generate desired responses to input molecules. For more information, visit our results pages.
