Team:Stanford-Brown/Biomining/Introduction

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<li><a href="#" id="project">Biomining:</a></li>
<li id="active"><a href="#" id="current">Introduction</a></li>
<li id="active"><a href="#" id="current">Introduction</a></li>
<li><a href="/Team:Stanford-Brown/Biomining/Harvesting">Harvesting</a></li>
<li><a href="/Team:Stanford-Brown/Biomining/Harvesting">Harvesting</a></li>
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<li><a href="/Team:Stanford-Brown/Biomining/BioBricks">BioBricks</a></li>
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<li><a href="/Team:Stanford-Brown/Parts">BioBricks</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://docs.google.com/a/stanford.edu/document/d/1RfsxBERl_GZoXgjWbqzlezqknuxjKNX8bjLudxNzz9U/edit">Notebook</a></li>
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<li><a href="/Team:Stanford-Brown/Protocols">Protocols</a></li>
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== '''Biomining''' ==
== '''Biomining''' ==
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To colonize space, we need to extract or recycle metals as building materials. Flying up heavy-duty equipment for traditional mining is not viable economically or structurally. Bacteria are small, easy to transport, and can mine the same amount or more than traditional methods. They can be used to extract metals from sediment on solid planets, asteroids, or even metal electronics aboard spacecraft.  
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The ability to extract or recycle metals is key to long-term human survival in space. Flying up traditional heavy-duty equipment to perform these functions is not viable economically or structurally. Bacteria are small, easy to transport, and can multiply and regenerate themselves. They can be used to extract metals from sediment on solid planets or asteroids, or to recycle metal electronics aboard spacecraft.
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Our project focuses mostly on metal extraction from electronics recycling in space.  Since most electronics, however, are covered with a thin layer of oxidized silica, we decided to tackle this obstacle first before delving into the actual metal mining.
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Existing bacteria with the ability to mine metal gather metal ions either within the cell body or on the cell surface. For our project, we modified a unique flagellar protein expression system, originally employed by [https://2008.igem.org/Team:Slovenia iGEM Team Slovenia 2008] as a novel flagellin vaccine. We attempted to make metal ion harvesting more robust by expressing metal binding peptides on bacterial flagella: we could chemically remove flagella from the bacterial body and collect the ions without killing the organism.  
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Additionally, we redesigned Team Slovenia 2008's [http://partsregistry.org/wiki/index.php?title=Part:BBa_K133038 flagellar protein expression system], “FliC,” to have a general-use multiple cloning site. This way, anyone wishing to express proteins on flagella can do so using our [http://partsregistry.org/Part:BBa_K847101 biobrick].
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[[File:Biomining.png|right|text-bottom|300px]]
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'''So what did we do?'''
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*We created a standard for expression of proteins on flagellin protein FliC in part K847101.
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*We engineered K847101 to express metalbinding ions to harvest metal ions ''in situ''.

Latest revision as of 00:58, 4 October 2012


Biomining

The ability to extract or recycle metals is key to long-term human survival in space. Flying up traditional heavy-duty equipment to perform these functions is not viable economically or structurally. Bacteria are small, easy to transport, and can multiply and regenerate themselves. They can be used to extract metals from sediment on solid planets or asteroids, or to recycle metal electronics aboard spacecraft.

Existing bacteria with the ability to mine metal gather metal ions either within the cell body or on the cell surface. For our project, we modified a unique flagellar protein expression system, originally employed by iGEM Team Slovenia 2008 as a novel flagellin vaccine. We attempted to make metal ion harvesting more robust by expressing metal binding peptides on bacterial flagella: we could chemically remove flagella from the bacterial body and collect the ions without killing the organism.

Additionally, we redesigned Team Slovenia 2008's [http://partsregistry.org/wiki/index.php?title=Part:BBa_K133038 flagellar protein expression system], “FliC,” to have a general-use multiple cloning site. This way, anyone wishing to express proteins on flagella can do so using our [http://partsregistry.org/Part:BBa_K847101 biobrick].

Biomining.png

So what did we do?

  • We created a standard for expression of proteins on flagellin protein FliC in part K847101.
  • We engineered K847101 to express metalbinding ions to harvest metal ions in situ.
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