Difference between revisions of "Team:WashU StLouis"

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Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> (Mtb) that affects nearly two billion people around the world. On this website we present four new ways to use the power of synthetic biology in the fight against TB: from gene detection, to drug targeting, to infiltrating macrophages, to sabotaging the synthesis of proteins. Hover over these panels to see the project overview.
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The purpose of this project is to genetically engineer E. coli and yeast to detect the presence of wheat stem rust, Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt), a fungus which can infect and kill entire fields of wheat. Many different strains of this fungus are in circulation around the globe but recently, several very destructive races have emerged, including TTKSK in East Africa, TTTTF in Italy, and TKTTF in the Middle East, East Africa, and Europe. These races of Pgt have proven virulent to several wheat resistance genes that usually protect the crop from other races of stem rust. In some cases of field infection, these virulent races can cause a 100% loss of viable crops. Hover over these panels to read about our three methods of testing.
 
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<p style="font-size:26px;">Tests for a compound solely found in the hyphae of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici infectious structures.</p>
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<p style="font-size:26px;">Transform <i>E. coli</i> with a plasmid carrying a promoter induced by ribitol, a compound unique to infectious structures formed by fungal spores, upstream of a fluorescent protein. </p>
 
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<p style="font-size:26px;">A safe and specific high-throughput drug screening method that targets essential mycobacterial metabolic proteins.</p>
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<p style="font-size:26px;">Express wheat resistance genes in transformed yeast to detect virulence factors released by Pgt to distinguish between virulent and non-virulent strains.</p>
 
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Revision as of 15:41, 15 June 2018

TEST FOR WHEAT STEM RUST FUNGUS THROUGH A MULTI-STEP PROCESS

The purpose of this project is to genetically engineer E. coli and yeast to detect the presence of wheat stem rust, Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt), a fungus which can infect and kill entire fields of wheat. Many different strains of this fungus are in circulation around the globe but recently, several very destructive races have emerged, including TTKSK in East Africa, TTTTF in Italy, and TKTTF in the Middle East, East Africa, and Europe. These races of Pgt have proven virulent to several wheat resistance genes that usually protect the crop from other races of stem rust. In some cases of field infection, these virulent races can cause a 100% loss of viable crops. Hover over these panels to read about our three methods of testing.

Transform E. coli with a plasmid carrying a promoter induced by ribitol, a compound unique to infectious structures formed by fungal spores, upstream of a fluorescent protein.

Express wheat resistance genes in transformed yeast to detect virulence factors released by Pgt to distinguish between virulent and non-virulent strains.

Infiltrate macrophages with an E.coli producing TDMH, an enzyme that will lyse the Mycobacteria cell wall.
Detect
Profile
Invade