Sporulation and Germination

sporulation and storage scheme

Another aspect to this project is the longevity of the product. Strains of bacteria expressing various receptors would be generated and stored as dormant spores. This allows the individual tubes of bacterial 'sensors' to sit in the user's cupboard until needed. When the user requires a specific sensor, the appropriate strain is selected and the bacteria can be germinated by following a simple protocol. They can then be placed into the arduino device, the sample loaded and the concentration profile measured.

Part of the main reason for choosing Bacillus subtilis as our chassis was because of it's abiltiy to form dormant spores. As part of our project, we aim to determine a protocol for inducing sporulation in Bacillus, and determine a very simple protocol for germinating the spores so they can be used as part of the system.

It is essential for the germination procedure to be as straight forward as possible, requiring minimal equipment and expertise, so that it could in theory be performed in the field, in a situation where the biosensor might be used.

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