Lab 1

lab 1

Title: Eau that smell A synthetic biology lab for high school using BioBuilder

Objectives: By the conclusion of this laboratory investigation, the student will be able to:

• Explain the synthetic biology
• Explain the population growth curve of bacteria.
• Define and properly use synthetic biology terms: parts, device, inverter.
• Define and properly use molecular genetics terms: promoter, ribosome binding site, open reading frame, terminator, plasmid,
• Culture bacteria using proper microbiology methods.
• Measure the growth of a bacterial population.

For the 2006 iGEM competition, MIT students designed eau d’ e coli, E. coli that smell like bananas when their population is in the stationary phase. They did this by inserting device that contains a stationary phase sensitive promoter coupled to a banana smell device, a device that contains a ribosome binding site (RBS), an open reading frame (ORF) that codes for the ATF1 enzyme and terminator sequences. The ATF1 enzyme converts isoamyl alcohol to isoamyl acetate, the molecule that gives bananas their characteristic smell.

It has been suggested that a device that generates the banana smell during the bacteria’s log phase of population growth will be helpful. There are two ways to accomplish this. Both methods will continue to use the banana smell device but alter the function of the promoter. One method involves coupling the banana smell device to a new part, a log phase promoter. The other method involves using the same promoter but adding an inverter. Synthetic biologists have constructed these devices for us and transformed bacteria with them.

File:Image:Label model.TIF parts device