With the break between semester over the Macquarie iGEM returned to classes. For us this was the first day of iGEM 2012. We had our first meeting and discussed our project. Dr. Louise Brown and Associate Professor Rob Willows were introduced the team and we were began to determine who would take on certain roles within the team.
Gibson Cloning was introduced to all of us for the first time and we eagerly began our project. We had decided to develop a gene-switch controlled by light. To do this a couple of genes would be needed:
- a bacteriophytochrome
- Heme oxygenase
The bacteriophytochromes from
Deinococcus radiodurans and
Agrobacterium tumefaciens were chosen. Over the next week Matt Stclair started to develop the G-blocks by:
- Acquiring the DNA sequence
- Translating into the protein sequence
- Using the DNA sequence, optimise codon usage for E. coli
- Translating into protein sequence and ensuring no changes in amino acids relative to the original sequence
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