Difference between revisions of "Template:NYMU-2015project-overview"

 
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<h1>Project overview</h1>
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<h2>background</h2>
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<p>Potato plant all over the world are in danger and this is not the first time in history. In the late 1840s, potato late blight epidemics caused the Great Famine in Ireland, when one million people starved to death. This catastrophic disease is caused by plant pathogenic oomycetes, P.infestans. Even 150 years later, when potato is widly
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<h1>Project overview</h1>
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grown in 135 countries and consumed by 1 billion people, late blight is still causing serious problems, including food insecurity, economic losses, and environmental damage.
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Potato late blight costs $6.7 billion every year. Although late blight can have little impact on the food supply in some areas, crop loss can still force farmers out of business. To control late blight, fungicide is frequently used, up to once every 3 days.
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These fungicides have enormous costs financially, at $200 per acre of farmland. Moreover, these chemicals often seep underground or escape to nearby streams to contaminate water sources. Water samples from around the U.S. shows that 75% of surface waters and 58% of groundwater wells contain at least one of 33 potato fungicides.
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In modern agricultural, the use of fungicide and genetically modified potatoes is inefficient in fighting against potato late blight. Most p.infestans have formed resistance against fungicides used nowadays. P.infestans secretes some enzymes and form high turgor insdie its cell to penerate and colonize in potato cells. P.infestans infect potato leaves and tubers and eventually the plant will die. The 2015 NYMU IGEM team aims to prevent potatoes from being infected by this devastating disease and ensure global food security
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<h2>Background</h2>
  
  
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<p>Potatoes all over the world are in danger and this is not the first time in history. In the late 1840s, potato late blight epidemics caused the Great Famine in Ireland and one million people were starved to death. This devastating disease is caused by the plant pathogenic oomycetes, <i>Phytophthora infestans</i>. Even now, when potatoes are widely grown in 135 countries and consumed by 1 billion people, late blight is still causing serious problems, including food insecurity, economic losses, and environmental damages.</p>
  
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<div style="margin-left:12.5%;width:75%;"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/e/eb/Nymu-overview-world.png" style="margin-left:13;padding-top:2%;padding-bottom:2%;width:90%;"><p style="font-weight:bold;font-size:14px;">Fig 1. Worldwide distribution of potato late blight caused by <i>P.infestans</i></p></div>
  
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<p>Potato late blight costs an annual loss of 6.7 billion USD. Although late blight have only little impact on the food supply in some areas, crop loss can still force farmers out of business. To control late blight, fungicides are frequently used, up to once every 3 days. These fungicides have enormous costs financially, at $200 per acre of farmland. Moreover, these chemicals often seep underground or escape to nearby streams and contaminate water sources. Water samples from over the U.S. show that 75% of surface waters and 58% of groundwater wells contain at least one of the 33 potato fungicides.</p>
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<p>In modern agriculture, the use of fungicides and genetically modified potatoes are inefficient in fighting against potato late blight. Most strains of <i>P. infestans</i> have developed resistance against fungicides used nowadays. <i>P. infestans</i> secretes some enzymes and form high turgor pressure inside its cell to penetrate and colonize in potato cells. <i>P. infestans</i> infect potato leaves and tubers; eventually the entire plant rots and dies. The 2015 NYMU-Taipei iGEM team aims to prevent potatoes from being infected by this devastating disease and ensure global food security.</p>
  
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<p>We aim to create a defense system to fight against potato late blight. Our system consists of potatoes that is resistant to Phytophthora infestans, a fungus-like pathogen that causes potato late blight, by constructing a competitive inhibitor that can prevent the effector protein secreted by P. infestans from entering the potato cell. In case that the potato we genetically modified can’t fend off the P. infestans, we designed a soil based microbial fuel cell (SMFC) with engineered bacteria on the anode of the SMFC that can detect whether the potato tuber is infected or not. If the potato is infected and detected by our SMFC, we will spread defensin obtained from maca. The defensin can weaken and inhibit the growth of P. infestans while doing no harm to the environment since it doesn’t contain heavy metal like most fungicide.</p>
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Latest revision as of 12:11, 20 November 2015

Project overview

Background

Potatoes all over the world are in danger and this is not the first time in history. In the late 1840s, potato late blight epidemics caused the Great Famine in Ireland and one million people were starved to death. This devastating disease is caused by the plant pathogenic oomycetes, Phytophthora infestans. Even now, when potatoes are widely grown in 135 countries and consumed by 1 billion people, late blight is still causing serious problems, including food insecurity, economic losses, and environmental damages.

Fig 1. Worldwide distribution of potato late blight caused by P.infestans



Potato late blight costs an annual loss of 6.7 billion USD. Although late blight have only little impact on the food supply in some areas, crop loss can still force farmers out of business. To control late blight, fungicides are frequently used, up to once every 3 days. These fungicides have enormous costs financially, at $200 per acre of farmland. Moreover, these chemicals often seep underground or escape to nearby streams and contaminate water sources. Water samples from over the U.S. show that 75% of surface waters and 58% of groundwater wells contain at least one of the 33 potato fungicides.



In modern agriculture, the use of fungicides and genetically modified potatoes are inefficient in fighting against potato late blight. Most strains of P. infestans have developed resistance against fungicides used nowadays. P. infestans secretes some enzymes and form high turgor pressure inside its cell to penetrate and colonize in potato cells. P. infestans infect potato leaves and tubers; eventually the entire plant rots and dies. The 2015 NYMU-Taipei iGEM team aims to prevent potatoes from being infected by this devastating disease and ensure global food security.