Team:Lethbridge HS/Achievements

Project

Achievements

Design

Our Petal Death Protein (PDP) part (BBa_K179200) was design to produce a modest amount of Oxalic acid. The PDP gene was obtained from Dianthus caryophyllus (Carnation) (Clove pink). PDP catalyzes the production of Oxalic acid from Oxaloacetate: Oxaloacetate + H2O = oxalic acid + acetate. The first 3 amino acids represent a propeptide and are not included in the PDP sequence. The PDP gene is under control of the constitutively active medium transcription promoter (J23107) and a strong RBS (B0034). This combination was chosen to allow us to tune the amount of oxalic acid produced through control of PDP production. Mutation of the transcription promoter to strong or weak activity will result in more or less PDP production and subsequent changes in oxalic acid production. The same principle can be applied to the RBS from strong to medium to weak. We tuned the oxalic acid production to achieve mite death at the lowest possible concentration while preventing any possible harm to bee health.