Team:US AFRL CarrollHS
Abstract
With growing environmental concerns, industries are increasingly relying on the use of biofuels. Biodiesel storage tanks are susceptible to water infiltration that often results in the formation of biofilms containing bacteria and fungi. Biofilms may clog pipes, degrade fuel, or corrode storage tanks. We set out to engineer a “seek, aim, and destroy” system for the remediation of microbial biofilm. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, commonly found in fuel biofilms, releases the quorum sensing molecule C4-HSL. Our engineered E. coli cells express CheZ protein in response to a concentration gradient of C4-HSL to activate the flagella motors and propel the cells towards the biofilm. In addition, the engineered E. coli expresses chitinase on its surface and secretes cinnamaldehyde. Chitinase breaks down chitin in the fungal cell walls, increasing the ability of cinnamaldehyde to destroy the fungi. Cinnamaldehyde also eliminates bacteria, thus remediating the biofilm.
Our Approach
We split our project up into three parts: Detect, Deliver, and Destroy
Detect C4-HSL, a quorum sensing molecule produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common bacteria found in biofilms.
Deliver the plasmid to the biofilm using E. coli's natural chemotactic ability by expressing the protein CheZ
Destroy the bacterial and fungal biofilm, by deploying two chitinase constructs to destroy chitin in the cell walls, then utilizing cinnamaldehyde to break down the biofilm.
We split our project up into three parts.
Our Approach
We split our project up into three parts.
Our Approach
We split our project up into three parts.
Our Approach
We split our project up into three parts.
Our Approach
We split our project up into three parts.
Our Music Video!
We had a lot of fun working on our iGEM project, including the creation of our music video.