"
Team:Lyon-INSA/BiofilmK
From 2012.igem.org
The INSA-Lyon iGEM 2012 solution: “Biofilm Killer”
Biological solutions presented above are very interesting and promising. But synthetic biology could make them even more powerful by providing a technology:
- able to control, prevent and protect industrial equipment
- using non-persistent molecules in the environment
- minimizing harm to individual, products and environment
To meet these challenges, we have chosen to build a bacterial strain based on the environmental friendly Bacillus subtilis strain (already used to feed animals and promote healthy vegetable growth. “Biofilm Killer” was engineered to both destroy and then replace, if needed, the deleterious contamination by a positive biofilm. Our solution is based on 3 genetic modules:
- KILL and SCATTER the biofillm. The effect of the biocide and scattering agents produced by the bacteria can be enhanced by the “torpedo” behavior of the Bacillus swimmers.
- COAT the surface with a surfactant reagent in presence of the inducteur 1 (xylose).
- STICK to install a positif biofilm in presence of the inducteur 2 (IPTG).
Main advantages
Lower cost : No need to have a protein purification step which is very expensive.
Eco-frendly: “Biofilm Killer” won’t release toxic chemicals in the environment since the proteins used can be easily destroyed.
The “biological swiss-knife”: “Biofilm Killer” should be able to replace mechanical cleaning actions thanks to the swarming properties of our strain which can penetrate deep inside the biofilm and release the active molecules in situ all over the biofilm.
