Highlights
As a part of outreach activities, we visited Dnyanaprakash Vidyalaya and had an interesting discussion with the students of 9th Grade. The focus of this activity was to spread awareness about genetic engineering and its applications. Simultaneously, our objective was also to introduce to them the amazing field of Synthetic Biology and tell them a bit about our project. Firstly, we told the students about iGEM – a prestigious international competition, and introduced ourselves as a participating team. We told them how the objectives of iGEM includes spreading awareness about Synthetic Biology
Introduction to Genetic Engineering
The discussion started off with asking the students about their awareness of Genes, DNA and their effect on the characteristic features or traits of a person. Most of them seemed to have a basic knowledge of what a cell is and that it contains a nucleus. We then told them that it is inside the nucleus that DNA is present and that is what determines several of our physical characteristics such as height, skin color, Eye color etc. We explained to them that it is because of this DNA that every person is unique. We then explained that DNA is made up of 4 smaller entities A,T,G and C, whose arrangement can vary in infinite ways and it is this arrangement that determines the functionality of the DNA.
To make the topic of genetic engineering more interesting for the students, we asked them about their favorite superheros. Several answers came forth, including the Hulk! We then asked them how Hulk, got his superpowers. One student answered that it was due to exposure to gamma radiation. We then tried to introduce the concept of gene modification by explaining that, Bruce Banner’s (aka.Hulk) DNA had been previously modified with sequences from various animals which was then activated by the gamma radiation. So, in a way, it was genetic modification that gave Hulk his superpowers! This definitely captured their imagination and got them inquisitive about genetic engineering. We then defined genetic engineering simply as tweaking the existing DNA of an organism by either adding or deleting genes to produce specific traits or abilities in the organism. The benefits of this would be to create abilities or even “superpowers” in organisms which may not have been present naturally. Additionally one may even amplify or enhance certain abilities or remove certain unwanted tendencies.
By this time, the students had a fair idea of what is meant by Genetic Engineering, so we went a step further to explain to them that Synthetic Biology is a type of genetic engineering. We explained to them that “Synthetic” simply means not natural. Thus “Synthetic Biology” is creating biological systems that do not exist naturally. This allows us to add or delete features thus creating customized systems for targeted applications.
Introduction to our Project
We then explained how our project aims to solve some of the problems in Indian Agriculture by making use of Syn-Bio. We asked them how much they know about and farming and fertilizers. Since most students had an agricultural background, they were familiar with the use of fertilizers to provide nutrients to the soil. We then told them about NPK fertilizers and their components i.e. Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium which are nutrients for plants. We told them that our focus was on Phosphorous uptake by Plants and further explained that not all the Phosphorous present in the soil is assimilated by plants, and requires special chemicals (enzymes) to perform the task. We explained to them how our “Smart” bacteria could detect the difference between plants and weeds and specifically release the enzymes in the vicinity of the good crop plants while not helping the weeds. The students certainly seemed to think that there was merit in the idea. We further explained that not only will the bacteria be able to distinguish between crops, but it will also produce the enzyme at a higher rate once activated, thus amplifying its own enzyme production. How would this solve the problems in agricultural economy? Well, firstly it would reduce the need for inorganic phosphatic fertilizers and secondly it indirectly curbs the need for weedicides.
Response from the students
To gauge the amount of knowledge imparted to the young minds in the course of our discussion, we asked them to tell us some of the new words they learnt during the talk. Surprisingly a large number of answers came our way including Synthetic Biology, DNA, Rhizosphere, Bacillus Subtilis, E. Coli, Genetic Engineering etc. It was indeed wonderful that the students had managed to grasp the essence of what we attempted to explain to them. As a further exercise, we asked them what applications of Genetic Engineering could they think of? Out of the many answers, we got an application that is indeed being researched upon currently. In the students words it was: “Modifying bacteria to consume the pollutants present in Air”. A second, more ‘out there’ application was: “Modifying bacteria so as to be able to control it and make it do whatever you want”, essentially having a bacteria Robot!
