Team:BABS UNSW Australia/overview
Project Overview
Much of our research has, and will, involve optimising, characterising and gathering data on these systems to provide a foundation for future research. On top of this, however, a range of bacterial and eukaryotic cells combinations will be tested to determine the most compatible organisms. The aim of this is to collect foundational data about synthetic organelle design. Our test subjects include three bacteria, the model laboratory strain Esherichia coli K12, a small, food-grade organism Lactococcus lactis and a slow-growing cyanobacteria, Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. Each of these are exciting or useful in their own way, as will be discussed in later pages of our Wiki. Our host cells are three mammalian cell lines, including human HeLa T cells, HEK-329 cells and CHO7 cells.
The use of an intracellular bacterium to supplement host cell function is not an old idea. According to the theory of symbiogenesis, which is supported by a range of phylogenetic and cell biology proofs, the mitochondria generating energy within each and every animal cell were originally ancient bacteria. A similar endosymbiosis is believed to underlie eukaryotic plant cells, with their carbon-fixing chloroplasts derived from proto-oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria.
These symbioses are so old and ingrained within the cells, that there is no longer any functional distinction between them. Other endosymbionts, however, are far more recognisable. Indeed, inspiration for the endosynbio project was derived from the interaction between pea aphids and their obligate intracellular bacteria, Buchnera. Due to an amino acid-starved diet of tree sap, pea aphids are reliant on their endosymbionts for amino acid synthesis. Buchnera species contain the genetic code for synthesis of all twenty amino acids and thus function as an intracellular factory without which the pea aphid could not survive. Observing this relationship opened our eyes to the possibility of intracellular, biological drugs, and led us to our ultimate question - is an artificial symbiogenesis possible?