Team:Amsterdam/project/introduction/
From 2012.igem.org
Introduction
After several weeks of brainstorming we made the final decision to make a logbook. Since the iGEM competition not only gives the opportunity to think outside of the box and from other perspectives it also encouraged us to try something completely new and innovative. To try something that hasn’t been done before and to challenge existing mechanism.
In our investigation we found that a lot of the iGEM teams work on the creation, utilization and improvement of sensory devices, which is all stored in the extensive database of the part registry but always linked to a Fluorescent Protein (FP). In our amazement and awe for all of these sensors we found it a shame for everything to be limited to a single FP which also can’t be expanded easily. But in an attempt to combine multiple sensors we soon found that the only way to accomplish this is to create a new platform for reporting or storing a signal.
When thinking about how to store a signal we were reminded of some literature we found from Bas van Steensel in which he described using the unrestrictable state that methylation gives as a reporter-mechanism in eukaryotes for insight into epigenetic properties. Our thoughts directly were: can we do this in prokaryotes also? This was something never done before, so we couldn’t rely that much on literature but we felt this was our chance to do something completely new and innovative.
Still this method didn’t solve all our aims. It provided a new platform to replace the FP but still only one sensor could be used in this manner and we wanted to expand. So we began looking in literature and in nature for a reliable way to specifically target a site without creating a random mess of methylation everywhere. With this in mind we found the already widely used, even by nature, Zinc-Finger (Znf). Used for its high specificity, easy linkage and overall satisfying result in literature we choose this as our prime candidate.
Having found all our components we got started as fast as possible on the technicalities. The time had come to try a new platform of storage and reporting while combining multiple sensors, creating our Cellular Logbook.