Story

PHA is a kind of bio-plastic produced by microbes.It's standard extract can be got after being dissolved in chloroform. In this project, we will reproduce the rose come out in the lines of the famous drama 'Romeo and Juliet' by the synthesis of PHA. PHA can be detected by Nile Red reagent by being dyed red, which looks exactly like rose.

Achievement

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Introduction

What's PHA

PHAs are the abbreviation of Polyhydroixyalkanoates, which are linear polyesters produced in nature by bacterial fermentation of sugar and lipids. They are produced by the bacteria to store carbon and energy. PHAs are also a kind of bio-plastics, which are more sustainable because they can be biodegraded in the environment a lot more faster than fossil-fuel plastics. PHBs are the abbreviation of polyhydrobutyrates ,which are a kind of polyhydroalkanoates. In our project we used the poly-3-hydroxybutyrate（P3HB）form of PHBs, which is the most common type of polyhydroxyalkanoate synthesized by the gene phaC1-A-B from Ralstonia eutropha H16.

As long as we know ,there was no team succeeded in synthesizing PHAs in iGEM format before. But this year we are very excited to tell you that we made it and we are going to show it to all of you.

synthetic mechanism

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Project Overview

Pre-experiment

Before the igem format vector coming，we actually synthesized PHA by using the vector PSB1C3 on E.coli JM109.We synthesized PHA by following steps. 1.Take the right gene phaC1-A-B from R.eutropha, and increase it by PCR 2.Insert the gene into the PSB1C3 vector by using a series of genetic operation including ligation and ethanol precipitation 3. Put the plasmid into E.coli JM109 by using the technique of transformation and plant it on LBmedium with Cm and Nile-Red then culture it overnight. 4. Check whether colonies are stained orange under UV 5. Produce PHAs by quantity by main culture the E.coli 6. Collect the strains and freeze dry it. 7. Stain the product and Measure the weight

Assay In order to check whether the product is PHA or not ,we used several ways of assay. 1. Read the gene sequence of the gene 2. See whether the product can be stained by Nile-Red or Nile-Blue 3. Make sure the product under microscope

Production of PHB main culture

Protocol

1 Wash Erlenmeyer flasks with mild detergent then rinse with distilled water.

2 Measure 4% LB medium and add it to each Erlenmeyer flask inside clean bench.

3 Add 96% distilled water to each Erlenmeyer flask and cover the flasks with four-folded aluminum foil.

4 Set all flasks into autoclave

5 Clear the clean bench

6 Add 1/1000 Chloramphenicol and 4% Glucose solution (50%) after the medium is completely cooled.

7 Add 2% preculture solution into each flasks and shaking culture at 37 ° C for 72 hours.

Collection of PHBs in JM109

1 Weigh empty 50ml falcon tube without lid and make a record.

2 Add some culture solution into each tube.

3 Set the tubes into centrifuge and make sure that the label faces outside.

4 4 ° C ,5000G ,10min in centrifuge.

5 Remove the supernatant with electric pipettor then add culture solution and set in centrifuge again.

6 After adding all the culture solution and setting in centrifuge, remove the supernatant and add water, set in centrifuge again.

7 Remove the supernatant and add a little amount of water.

8 Cover the tubes with double layers of parafilms and fully freeze them.

Freeze drying

1 Poke several holes on the tubes’ parafilm with toothpick.

2 Set the tubes on the freeze drying machine.