Types | DnaRegion
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Roles | engineered_region
Composite
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Sequences | BBa_K639004_sequence (Version 1)
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Description
The stringent response in bacteria is caused by amino-acid starvation, fatty acid limitation, iron limitation, heat shock and other stress conditions. As a response under these conditions,
in vitro studies have suggested that the alarmone guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp) increase to modulate transcription to promote survival. The increase in ppGpp levels causes a redirection of transcription so that genes important for survival are favoured at the expense of those required for growth and proliferation [1].
So, could we use ppGpp as signal molecule to find out when cells are stressed?
The solution
Our system will be based on a promoter that is important for regulating growth and proliferation. At the moment we are trying to use the
rrnB-p1 promoter, which has been shown in earlier studies to be highly regulated by the ppGpp molecule. Hopefully the promoter will be down regulated enough by increased levels of ppGpp to turn the repressor
lacI it controls completely off. The lacI represses a second promoter
pLac that induces the production of red fluorescent protein (mCherry) and turns the cells red.
Reference:
[
1] Magnusson, L. U., A. Farewell, et al. (2005). "ppGpp: a global regulator in Escherichia coli." Trends Microbiol 13(5): 236-242
Notes
None
Source
Made by combining BBa_K639002 and BBa_K639000. BBa_K639002 is an improved version of BBa_K112118 made by PCR-amplification with BBa_K112118 as template. BBa_K639000 is made solely from existing registry parts.