Team:Utah State

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Project Description

Bacteria are used for a number of important purposes within the bioprocess and food industries. One notable example is the fermentation of dairy products in order to create cheese and yogurt. One problem that practitioners of bacteria fermentation deal with is attack by bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria. Many different techniques are used to control phage infection, including prevention of phage contamination by routine cleaning of the fermentation areas and rotation of cultures, employment of phage resistant strains of bacteria, and efforts to minimize opportunities for the appearance of new strains of phage. With the rise of molecular biotechnology, it is possible to create new types phage resistant bacteria by stacking genes with defense systems into the same strain and genetic construct. The dairy industry has funded research of this sort to creating phage resistant strains of lactic acid bacteria.

Building on research aimed at the creation of phage resistant lactic acid bacteria, the 2015 Utah State University iGEM team is using synthetic biology to create a strain of Lactococcus lactis that is capable of detecting, reporting, and fighting against phage infection, specifically the bacteriophage P335 from the Siphoviridae family. These bacteria will work by using a promoter from the virus itself, known as the cro promoter system, which will activate when the phage is present. In a construct where the bacteria will report the presence of phage so the culture can be stopped before the infection spreads, a GFP or RFP that is functional in the L. lactis bacteria will be placed downstream of the promoter. This will allow technicians to measure the fluorescence levels present in the culture to gain an indication of phage presence at any given time. In the version where the bacteria are able to fight against the infection, a suicide system will be placed downstream from the promoter system, which will cause the bacteria to die before the phage is able to fully form, preventing further spread throughout the culture.

In addition, another goal for the USU team is to test the viability of promoters and fluorescent proteins that were designed for lactic acid bacteria in L. lactis.

Welcome to iGEM 2015!

Your team has been approved and you are ready to start the iGEM season!

Before you start:

Please read the following pages:

• Requirements page
• Wiki Requirements page

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!

Inspiration

You can also view other team wikis for inspiration! Here are some examples:

• 2014 SDU Denmark
• 2014 Aalto-Helsinki
• 2014 LMU-Munich
• 2014 Michigan
• 2014 ITESM-Guadalajara
• 2014 SCU-China

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