Difference between revisions of "Team:NYMU-Taipei"

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<h1 align="center">Fight the Blight</h1>
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<h1 align="center">Never Too LATE:
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<h2>Project Overview</h2>
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We are the 2015 National Yang Ming University iGEM team from Taiwan. iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) is an international synthetic biology competition hosted by the iGEM Foundation where renowned universities around the world participate. All iGEM teams carry out their creative ideas with synthetic biology and realize their concepts using scientific methods. NYMU has taken part in iGEM since 2007 and has been constantly rewarded for outstanding performances.
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This year, we shifted our focus to disease problems of potatoes (<i>Solanum tuberosum</i>), one of the world’s major grain crops. We hope to establish a well-rounded defense system via transformed microbes with synthetic biology techniques to reduce the prevalence of the potato late blight disease, a consequence of water mold (<i>Phytophthora infestans</i>) infection. Given the 2012 North Carolina, US and the recent Zhangjiakou, China outbreaks, we fervently hope to first construct the biological defense system in our local main producing origins of potatoes, Taichung City and Yunlin County, Taiwan. We seek to not only secure the supply of our food sources, but also to help farmers ride through the predicament.
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Fighting Potato Late Blight via Synthetic Biology
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<h2>Abstract</h2>
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Cultivated potato is the world’s third most important human food crop and the number one non-grain food commodity (FAOSTAT2010) and the cultivation of which is also an important agricultural income in many countries. However it is also host to a wide range of pathogens, including Phytophthora infestans, the cause of the potato late blight and also pathogen to several other members of the Solanaceae family. P. infestans is the plant destroyer capable of attacking both potato foliage and tubers when temperature and moisture is suitable and has caused considerable annual losses in the production and processing of crops. What is even worse, if a single potato is infected by this kind of pathogen, there is a chance that the disease may spread to other potatoes in the farm via water and soil.
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The biological control of the disease has attracted much attention recently. Scientists from different countries has synthesized or discovered various bioagent inducing resistance and bacteria causing antagonistic inhibition. However, there’s no efficient way to prevent and fight against potato late blight. Also, the fungicide used nowadays is detrimental to both the pathogen and host.
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This year we are creating a new systematic way to fight against the notorious potato late blight caused by P. infestans. We have characterized a new defensin that can significantly weaken the extracellular structure of P. infestans, specifically the cell wall of the mycelia. In this way, P. infestans cannot absorb nutrient from potato tubers so that it can’t survive through the winter, thus stopping the oomycete from thriving in the next spring.
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  Moreover, we designed a brand new mechanism that can be spontaneously triggered by salicylic acid and hydrogen peroxide. These chemicals are released when the potatoes are attacked by pathogens. Inspired by competitive inhibition widely used in pharmacology, we designed and improved an inhibitor aiding the entrance of P. infestans toxin (Avr 1) which can also bind to the receptor but with higher affinity.
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Another major problem in the biological control of potato late blight is that there’s no efficient way to detect whether the potato is susceptible to late blight. Therefore we create a soil-based microbial fuel cell (MFC) that can detect salicylic acid emission and produce oscillating current. Using this device, we can easily tell the difference between the current produced by the MFC before and after infection.
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In our project design, we try to cover every aspect that can prevent, fight against, and detect potato late blight. We try to create a systematic way to prevent P. infestans to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of fungicide that might jeopardize the environment and other species. Furthermore, we will provide a standard procedure that can easily be followed by anyone without advanced knowledge on biology. We seek to not only secure the supply of food sources, but also to help farmers ride through the predicament.  
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<h2> Welcome to iGEM 2015! </h2>
 
<h2> Welcome to iGEM 2015! </h2>
 
<p>This wiki is under construction </p>
 
<p>This wiki is under construction </p>

Revision as of 09:05, 11 July 2015

Never Too LATE:

Fighting Potato Late Blight via Synthetic Biology

Abstract

Cultivated potato is the world’s third most important human food crop and the number one non-grain food commodity (FAOSTAT2010) and the cultivation of which is also an important agricultural income in many countries. However it is also host to a wide range of pathogens, including Phytophthora infestans, the cause of the potato late blight and also pathogen to several other members of the Solanaceae family. P. infestans is the plant destroyer capable of attacking both potato foliage and tubers when temperature and moisture is suitable and has caused considerable annual losses in the production and processing of crops. What is even worse, if a single potato is infected by this kind of pathogen, there is a chance that the disease may spread to other potatoes in the farm via water and soil.

The biological control of the disease has attracted much attention recently. Scientists from different countries has synthesized or discovered various bioagent inducing resistance and bacteria causing antagonistic inhibition. However, there’s no efficient way to prevent and fight against potato late blight. Also, the fungicide used nowadays is detrimental to both the pathogen and host. This year we are creating a new systematic way to fight against the notorious potato late blight caused by P. infestans. We have characterized a new defensin that can significantly weaken the extracellular structure of P. infestans, specifically the cell wall of the mycelia. In this way, P. infestans cannot absorb nutrient from potato tubers so that it can’t survive through the winter, thus stopping the oomycete from thriving in the next spring.

Moreover, we designed a brand new mechanism that can be spontaneously triggered by salicylic acid and hydrogen peroxide. These chemicals are released when the potatoes are attacked by pathogens. Inspired by competitive inhibition widely used in pharmacology, we designed and improved an inhibitor aiding the entrance of P. infestans toxin (Avr 1) which can also bind to the receptor but with higher affinity. Another major problem in the biological control of potato late blight is that there’s no efficient way to detect whether the potato is susceptible to late blight. Therefore we create a soil-based microbial fuel cell (MFC) that can detect salicylic acid emission and produce oscillating current. Using this device, we can easily tell the difference between the current produced by the MFC before and after infection.

In our project design, we try to cover every aspect that can prevent, fight against, and detect potato late blight. We try to create a systematic way to prevent P. infestans to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of fungicide that might jeopardize the environment and other species. Furthermore, we will provide a standard procedure that can easily be followed by anyone without advanced knowledge on biology. We seek to not only secure the supply of food sources, but also to help farmers ride through the predicament.

Welcome to iGEM 2015!

This wiki is under construction

Before you start:

Please read the following pages:

Styling your wiki

You may style this page as you like or you can simply leave the style as it is. You can easily keep the styling and edit the content of these default wiki pages with your project information and completely fulfill the requirement to document your project.

While you may not win Best Wiki with this styling, your team is still eligible for all other awards. This default wiki meets the requirements, it improves navigability and ease of use for visitors, and you should not feel it is necessary to style beyond what has been provided.

Editing your wiki

On this page you can document your project, introduce your team members, document your progress and share your iGEM experience with the rest of the world!

Click here to edit this page!

See tips on how to edit your wiki on the Template Documentation page.

Templates

This year we have created templates for teams to use freely. More information on how to use and edit the templates can be found on the Template Documentation page.

Tips

This wiki will be your team’s first interaction with the rest of the world, so here are a few tips to help you get started:

  • State your accomplishments! Tell people what you have achieved from the start.
  • Be clear about what you are doing and how you plan to do this.
  • You have a global audience! Consider the different backgrounds that your users come from.
  • Make sure information is easy to find; nothing should be more than 3 clicks away.
  • Avoid using very small fonts and low contrast colors; information should be easy to read.
  • Start documenting your project as early as possible; don’t leave anything to the last minute before the Wiki Freeze. For a complete list of deadlines visit the iGEM 2015 calendar
  • Have lots of fun!

Uploading pictures and files

You can upload your pictures and files to the iGEM 2015 server. Remember to keep all your pictures and files within your team's namespace or at least include your team's name in the file name.
When you upload, set the "Destination Filename" to Team:YourOfficialTeamName/NameOfFile.jpg. (If you don't do this, someone else might upload a different file with the same "Destination Filename", and your file would be erased!)

CLICK HERE TO UPLOAD FILES