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From 2012.igem.org

Project overview

For our first participation in iGEM, we have decided to introduce a new organism to the competition: Xenopus tropicalis. Its common name is the Western clawed frog, a diploid cousin of the model organism Xenopus laevis. Aside for the soft spot us Frenchmen have for frogs, we also believe Xenopus could be a great multicellular chassis for synthetic biology. We are therefore bringing this organism to iGEM for the first time, along with the tools we need to bring Synthetic biology to the multicellular era.

The laboratory part of our work can be divided into two categories: The creation of synthetic biology tools for Xenopus, and the creation of a synthetic hormonal system. We created a multi-level model of this inter-tissue communication system, concurrently laying the groundwork for modelling of synthetic genetic systems in multicellular organisms. Finally, using vertebrates in synthetic biology poses deep ethical problems, which come alongside those of animal experimentation. iGEM aims to be cool and fun, but can we or should be keep the same attitude when working with tadpole embryos ? Should we reduce animals to objects or tools by using words such as chassis when working with these multicellular organisms? Our resident philosopher lead our team’s reflection on these issues, proposing a guide for future synthetic biologists who wish to work with Xenopus.

A quick summary of each project is proposed in this page. Please go on the specific page of each project for more details!

The French Froggies: Engineering a new hormonal system in tadpoles

So far, synthetic biology and especially the iGEM competition has been mostly focused in engineering unicellular organisms and the bacteria in particular. Some work has already started in engineering systems in pluricellular organisms but there is almost no work reported of a synthetic system created at the whole organism scale. The use of a multicellular organism provides an additional level of complexity compared to single-celled organisms which multiplies the potential applications in terms of synthetic biology.

Xenopus tropicalis is a model organism for develpmental biology, and very recently it has become an interesting chassis for synthetic biology. Our aim is to pave the way towards integrated multicellular genetic circuits by creating a synthetic, orthogonal hormonal system. We want to use the plant hormone auxin for communication between organs.

Modeling a tadpole: a multi-level approach

Modeling a synthetic system at the whole organism scale is a challenge in itself. Using differential equations and agent based simulation, we aimed at modeling our entire synthetic hormonal system, as well as providing a new set of mathematical tool for iGEM in order to model complete organisms.

Cloning: a new biobrick cloning format

We have started the development ou a new biobrick format that may revolutionize the future of iGEM cloning by enabeling the assembly of a complete expression cassette in one shot, in a cheaper and most reliable way than all the current cloning method. We are the initiator of that project and we are going to develop it in partneship with the iGEM Paris Bettencourt and the CINVESTAV-IPN-UNAM_MX team in Mexico.

Human practice: What does it imply to engineer a multicellular organism

Working with vertebrates raises many ethical questions. We decided to track the changes in our attitude to animal experimentation during our project. Before starting our experiments, we answered a list of questions concerning the ethical aspects of our project. Our answers were based on a theoretical perspective, because most of us have never worked with live multicellular organisms before. We will continue our survey and observe the changes in our attitude with the advancement of our project. Because we are a multinational team, we are also interested in comparing animal rights in different parts of the world.