Team:Hamburg/Basic Part

MlcRE

We chose MlcRE as candidate for best basic Part for its ability to control the cells metabolic load in accordance to environmental circumstances. MlcRE is a strong promoter derived from E. coli. While it is constitutively active in absence of glucose it is repressed proportional to increasing concentration of glucose. This enables cells to adapt autonomously to current nutrient supply thereby strongly increases the cells sustainability. In contrast to most other promoters no activation signal is needed.

One example for genes which might be regulated by this promotor are alternative metabolism pathways.

Advantages:

  • Can be cloned upstream of any gene of interest to induce transcription in the absence of glucose
  • Transcription strength is autonomously regulated through the glucose concentration in the surrounding media
  • Is very useful to sustain a cell culture without adding further substances
  • Adapting gene expression during nutrient-poor circumstances, can enable a culture to prevail for a longer period of time

To review our characterization data of MlcRE please visit http://parts.igem.org/wiki/index.php?title=Part:BBa_K2588000

We also created a glucose-dependant promotor by using a NOT-gate. For further information, please see: http://parts.igem.org/wiki/index.php?title=Part:BBa_K2588002

Funding