Difference between revisions of "Team:Lethbridge"

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<h1>Project Description</h1>
 
  
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<h2>dsRNA induced gene silencing as an alternative to traditional fungicides to manage
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                <ul>
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                    <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/">iGEM</a></li>
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                    <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge">RNAiCare</a></li>
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                        <a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Project">Project</a>
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                        <ul>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Description">Description</a></li>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Design">Design</a></li>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Results">Results</a></li>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Project_Production">Production</a></li>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Project_Judging"></a></li>
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                        </ul>
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                    </li>
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                        <a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Parts">Parts</a>
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                        <ul>
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                            <li><a href="Basic_Part.html">Basic Parts</a></li>
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                            <li><a href="Composite_Part.html">Composite Parts</a></li>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Measurement">Measurement</a></li>
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                        </ul>
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                    </li>
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                    <li>
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                        <a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Practices">Practices</a>
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                        <ul>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Practices_Risks">Risks</a></li>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Practices_Stakeholders">Stakeholders</a></li>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Practices_Current">Current Problems</a></li>
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                        </ul>
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                    </li>
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                    <li>
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                        <a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Notebook">Notebook</a>
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                        <ul>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Notebook_July">July</a></li>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Notebook_August">August</a></li>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Notebook_September">September</a></li>
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                        </ul>
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                    <li>
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                        <a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Software">Software</a>
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                    </li>
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                    <li>
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                        <a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Team">Team</a>
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                        <ul>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Team_Members">Members</a></li>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Collaborations">Collaborations</a></li>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Attributions">Attributions</a></li>
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                            <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Sponsors">Sponsors</a></li>
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                        </ul>
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                    </li>
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                    <div class="banner_title">Pesticides for the Future</div>
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                    <div class="banner_buttons">
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                        <a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Design">Design</a>
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                        <a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Results">Results</a>
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                        <a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Practices">Practice</a>
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                <div class="info_box" id="info_1">
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                    <h2>World Food Shortage</h2>
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                    <p>By 2030 the Earth will have about 8.4 billion people living on it.</p>
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                    <p>*image of earth, with a population bar encircling that grows as the year changes*</p>
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                    <canvas id="earth_population"></canvas>
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                    <p>The UN estimates that we will need to increase agricultural production by 70% to feed the inhabitants of the world by 2050.</p>
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                    <p>*a moving graph maybe?*</p>
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                </div>
  
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Fusarium infection in cereal crops.</H2>
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                <div class="info_box" id="info_2">
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                    <h2>Current Pesticides</h2>
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                    <p>In the past we have relied on pesticides to control species that damage our food supply. However, with the development of resistant pest species, harmful off-target effects, and persistence in the environment, and diminishing returns, conventional pesticides have shown themselves to be unsustainable for a growing planet.</p>
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                </div>
  
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<P>Each year, Alberta applies over 10,000 metric tons of pesticide to agricultural, industrial,
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                <div class="info_box" id="info_3">
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and domestic land. This is not only financially taxing, but it results in downstream off-target
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                    <h2>Our Solution</h2>
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effects and bioaccumulation within the prairie ecosystem[1]. Targeted double stranded RNA
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                    <p>We propose an alternative: a biosynthetic(?) pesticide that is:</p>
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(dsRNA) has been shown to be capable of activating the RNA interference machinery with a
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                    <ul>
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lethal effect when consumed by eukaryotic pest organisms[2][3][4]. While these results are promising,
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                        <li>species specific</li>
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the cost of dsRNA synthesis remains prohibitively expensive and not easily tailored to each
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                        <li>cheap to produce</li>
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specific pest species.</P>
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                        <li>easy to apply</li>
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                        <li>safe for the environment.</li>
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                    </ul>
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                </div>
  
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<p>Our proposed project involves the synthesis of highly pure dsRNA for use as a topical
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                <div class="info_box" id="info_4">
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fungicide. The target of our RNAi-based approach will be a member of the genus Fusarium,  
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                    <h2>Design</h2>
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responsible for the spread of Fusarium Head Blight which decimates cereal grain yields across
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                    <p>RNA Interference mediated my double stranded RNA has been a powerful tool for research since it’s discovery. RNA is: transient, non-heritable, auto-hydrolyzing, making it the perfect molecule for pesticide use. Our goal is to produce highly pure and specific siRNAs to induce silencing in pest species using E.coli.</p>
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Canada. This project will target specific Fusarium virulence factors and effectively silence them,  
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protecting the crops from infection. Furthermore, our design involves a scaffold in which any
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dsRNA sequence of interest may be inserted for targeting of a gene of interest within a specific
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species. Altogether, this project represent a scalable, highly species specific and widely
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applicable solution to global agriculture problems that has an added bonus of being rapidly
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degradable in the environment (~36 hours)[5].</p>
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<h2>References:</h2>
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                <div class="info_box" id="info_5">
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                    <h2>Results</h2>
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                    <p>To produce commercial quantities of pure dsRNA, we will [PATENT PENDING] and apply it to fields using existing farm infrastructure.</p>
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                </div>
  
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<ol>
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                <div class="info_box" id="info_6">
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<li>Cabana, G., & Rasmussen, J. B. (1994). Modelling food chain structure and
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                    <h2>Practices</h2>
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contaminant bioaccumulation using stable nitrogen isotopes. Nature, 372(6503), 255-
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                    <p>People are important and stuff!</p>
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257.</li>
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                </div>
  
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<li>Drinnenberg, I. A., Weinberg, D. E., Xie, K. T., Mower, J. P., Wolfe, K. H., Fink, G.
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                <div class="info_box" id="info_7">
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R., & Bartel, D. P. (2009). RNAi in budding yeast. Science, 326(5952), 544-550.</li>
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                    <h2>Accomplishments</h2>
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                    <p>Bronze</p>
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                    <p>Silver</p>
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                    <p>Gold</p>
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                </div>
  
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<li>Huvenne, H., & Smagghe, G. (2010). Mechanisms of dsRNA uptake in insects and
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                <div class="info_box" id="info_8">
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potential of RNAi for pest control: a review. Journal of insect physiology,56(3),
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                    <h2>Who are we?</h2>
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235.</li>
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                    <p>Meet the team behind the project:<a href="https://2015.igem.org/Teams:Lethbridge/Team_Members">LINK</a></p>
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                    <img src="Uleth15_teamphoto.png">
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                </div>
  
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<li>Palli, S.R. (2014). RNA interference in Colorado potato beetle: steps toward
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                <div class="sponsors">
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development of dsRNA as a commercial insecticide. Current opinion in Insect
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                    <a href="https://www.idtdna.com/site"><img src="../img/Uleth15_IDT.png" alt="Integrated DNA technologies" width="20%" height="20%">
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Science, 6, 1-8.</li>
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                        </a>
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                    <a href="http://www.geneious.com/"><img src="../img/Uleth15_Geneious.png" alt="Geneious"width="20%" height="20%">
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                        </a>
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                    <a href="http://www.albertatechfutures.ca/"><img src="../img/Uleth15_AITF.png" alt="Alberta RNA research and training institute"width="20%" height="20%">
 +
                        </a>
 +
                    <a href="http://pearlbiotech.com/"><img src="../img/Uleth15_PEARL.png" alt="Pearl Biotech"width="20%" height="20%">
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                        </a>
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                    <a href="http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/home/"><img src="../img/Uleth15_AAFC.png" alt="Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada"width="20%" height="20%">
 +
                        </a>
 +
                    <a href="http://www.uleth.ca/research/alberta-rna-research-and-training-institute-arrti"><img src="../img/Uleth15_AARTI.png" alt="Alberta Innovates Technology Futures" width="20%" height="20%">
 +
                        </a>
 +
                    <a href="http://www.uleth.ca/"><img src="../img/Uleth15_Uleth.png" alt="University of Lethbridge"width="20%" height="20%">
 +
                        </a>
 +
                </div>
  
−
<li>Dubelman S, Fischer J, Zapata F, Huizinga K, Jiang C, et al. (2014) Environmental
+
            </div>
−
Fate of Double-Stranded RNA in Agricultural Soils. PLoS ONE 9(3):e93155. doi:
+
   
−
10.1371/journal.pone.0093155</li>
+
        </div>
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</ol>
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Revision as of 02:04, 17 September 2015

<!DOCTYPE html> iGEM

World Food Shortage

By 2030 the Earth will have about 8.4 billion people living on it.

*image of earth, with a population bar encircling that grows as the year changes*

The UN estimates that we will need to increase agricultural production by 70% to feed the inhabitants of the world by 2050.

*a moving graph maybe?*

Current Pesticides

In the past we have relied on pesticides to control species that damage our food supply. However, with the development of resistant pest species, harmful off-target effects, and persistence in the environment, and diminishing returns, conventional pesticides have shown themselves to be unsustainable for a growing planet.

Our Solution

We propose an alternative: a biosynthetic(?) pesticide that is:

  • species specific
  • cheap to produce
  • easy to apply
  • safe for the environment.

Design

RNA Interference mediated my double stranded RNA has been a powerful tool for research since it’s discovery. RNA is: transient, non-heritable, auto-hydrolyzing, making it the perfect molecule for pesticide use. Our goal is to produce highly pure and specific siRNAs to induce silencing in pest species using E.coli.

Results

To produce commercial quantities of pure dsRNA, we will [PATENT PENDING] and apply it to fields using existing farm infrastructure.

Practices

People are important and stuff!

Accomplishments

Bronze

Silver

Gold

Who are we?

Meet the team behind the project:LINK

Integrated DNA technologies Geneious Alberta RNA research and training institute Pearl Biotech Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Alberta Innovates Technology Futures University of Lethbridge