The extremely fast replication cycle of ''E. coli'' as well as its extensive previous use, make it an invaluable tool to iGEM and others interested in synthetic biology. However, for metabolic engineering it is often not the ideal organism for production of novel compounds. Unfortunately, because the number of cloning tools available for alternative species remains limited, it is still utilized for these projects out of convenience. The ability to transform photosynthetic organism is of particular interest due to their ability to absorb CO2 and grow on minimal media. Their natural production of many carotenoid precursors also make them valuable in metabolic engineering.
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It is the hope that WashU iGEM can help to increase the set of tools that allow for the reliable transformation a photosynthetic organism. The model ''Synechocystis'' spp. 6803 is an obvious choice due to its fully sequenced genome, as well as the fact that several teams have already used this organisms in their research. In attempt to increase the ability of future iGEM teams to use this organism in their project, iGEM WashU is submitting a strong, previously used promoter as well as two biobrick friendly plasmids that have successfully been used to clone synechocystis.
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