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Team:LMU-Munich/Why Beadzillus
The LMU-Munich team is exuberantly happy about the great success at the World Championship Jamboree in Boston. Our project Beadzillus finished 4th and won the prize for the "Best Wiki" (with Slovenia) and "Best New Application Project".
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Filters are widely used in everyday life and within the lab. Filters, such as Brita filters for removing calcium and other contaminants from drinking water and plumbing systems are abundant. In the lab, filters are used for DNA purification and protein purification.
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All types of filters are filled with some type of matrix which determines the function of the filter. To maximize the surface in a minimal volume, beads are commonly used in all types of filters. These microbeads have a specific size and can display protein on their surface for functional use of the proteins. Then the features of the protein characterize the filter. The coupling of proteins to the beads is based on affinity binding. An example is nickle NTA-tags, in which a protein carrying a histidine tag binds to the nickel ion of the bead. Several companies offer such microbeads with proteins coupled to their surface using affinity tags.
Such beads are usually very expensive -- their production is laborious, as the protein has to be expressed, bound to the beads and then washed. Additionally, the binding of the protein is non-covalent. To solve this problem, we offer a synthetic biology solution in our project Beadzillus, in which we produced biological beads. We call these biological beads Sporobeads.
But what are our biological beads made of? Using clever natural engineering millions of years ago, evolution developed endospores of the soil bacteria Bacillus subtilis. Endospores, which are highly resistant to environmental stressors and can survive harsh conditions, are a dormant life stage of B. subtilis. To get to know more about the life cycle and the production of endospores, have a look at the life cycle of B. subtilis on the next page.
