Team:TU-Eindhoven/Notebook/Before/CSI

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Bacterial CSI

At a crime scene, the victim as well as the offender leaves traces. When these traces are investigated, the delinquent can easily be found and judged. For blood samples, finger prints and gunshot residues, proper materials are available. To wage war against crime, we thought of a way to collect DNA at a crime scene. Scientists have tried to transform several kinds of bacteria in order to introduce exogenous DNA to the cell. Usually this is done by altering the permeability of the cell membrane. However, bacteria which are naturally able to take up DNA from the extracellular environment do exist [5]. Protein complexes help to transport one strand of the incoming DNA through the cell wall and cell membranes, while the second strand will be degraded and released into the extracellular milieu. The uptake of DNA can be sequence specific. This might help to take up only human DNA. After the uptake, protein transcription will be activated. With the use of a fluorescent label, bacteria can show whether they have taken up exogenous DNA.

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