2012 iGEM

CBNU-Korea

1. Overview

1-1. Predicting Essential Genes

1) Need of the Analysis of Essential Genes

It is thought that today, Synthetic Biology has reached a plateau. Since the success of the experiment that re-synthesizes the genome and insert it into the cell, it seems that Synthetic Biology is not developing. But if somebody can design a genome and synthesize it, synthetic biology can take off again. Then what do we need to design a genome? First, we need information about essential genes. An essential gene is a gene that is critical for survival. If you have the information about the essential gene, you are in a superior state in making human artificial cell in a true sense. Because it means that you already have the ability to make the brick. All you have to do is make a brick with our program developed for you according to the sequence of the essential genes, and conduct experiments.

2) The Present of the Analysis of Essential Genes

Essential genes are being analyzed in many places, such as in DEG or PATRIC.

3) The Problem of the Analysis of Essential Genes

Essential genes known today are mostly discovered with in vitro experiments. As seen in the chart above, the result of the experiment can vary according to conditions and methods. We bring forth a problem about this. We believe that to give meaning to a result, it has to be accurate. Also the analysis method of essential genes used today takes a lot of time and labor. To address this we use a bio-informatics way and find essential genes.

1-2. Analysis of Essential Genes

1) Definition of Essential Genes

As we are using the computer to find essential genes, we can't use the existing method to analogize essential genes with experiments. We assume that if essential genes are critical to living, every organism must have it. So we approached the problem with the assumption that an essential gene is a gene that every living thing will has.

2) Significance of the Analysis of Essential Genes

We are proud of our analysis methods. You will see that our analysis result is not that different from that proved with experiments. Our analysis results do more than finding essential genes. With this, you can understand the metabolic process and furthermore have a good chance to synthesize an artificial cell.

1-3. Developing of the Minimal Genome Designer

1) The Purpose of Minimal Genome Designer

The purpose of our program is fundamentally to understand the structure and the principle of the genome. However, we will not stop at understanding the information about genome, but hope that you can go on to build your own genome by using the brick in your experiment.

2) Advantages of Minimal Genome Designer

Minimal Genome Designer will make you easily understand the genome, by showing you the structure. Providing various information about the gene and the genome, our program will shorten your time to design the experiment. This also means that you can save money as well. We have tried and verified so that Minimal Genome Designer can procure reliability. The results made by Minimal Genome Designer can be used as a new background information for your experiment.