{% extends "layout.html" %} {% block title %}Synthopedia{% endblock %} {% block lead %}With the advent of the synthetic biology revolution, scientists have developed ways to use bacteria to produce commercial products and even treat diseases using engineered probiotics. There are, however, some hurdles that need to be overcome, including the inability to modulate gene expression in a predictable manner and the absence of many of the genetic and regulatory libraries which makes building genetic circuits and assemblies extremely difficult in unconventional chassis. To combat these problems, Team iGEM IIT-Madras is working to create a well-characterized library of ribosome binding bites to fine-tune gene expression in Lactococcus lactis and contribute to the development of standardized genetic parts and systems in this beneficial chassis.{% endblock %} {% block page_content %}
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Synthetic biology envisions a bioengineering
domain for designing new genetic parts and
systems, or redesigning of existing ones.

Until now, the most versatile workhorse of
synthetic biology has been Escherichia coli.
However, there is a need for exploring new
chassis which can be naturally adapted to
unique traits or metabolic pathways.







Lactococcus lactis (L. lactis)
is a ‘Generally Regarded As Safe’ (GRAS)
organism. It is naturally found in milk products
and is also known to colonize the human gut.
Unlike E. coli, it does not have an endotoxin
layer, which requires extra measures for
purification.

Due to its ability to use a wide range of
substrates and tolerance for a wide range of
conditions (pH, temperature, solvent
concentration), L. lactis serves as an alternate
bacterial model for metabolic and bioprocess
engineering.

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The range of products it can be engineered to
produce include bioplastics, biofuels,
biopolymers, polyols, and food flavors.

However, the absence of genetic and regulatory
libraries for this organism make genetic
circuits design and assembly challenging in
this chassis.

The ability to fine-tune gene expression forms
a cornerstone for the design and operation of
genetic circuits. This optimization has not
been fully carried out in non-traditional
chassis like L. lactis.

Our project is aimed at the construction and testing of a
library of synthetic 5’ untranslated regions (UTR)
containing ribosome binding sites (RBS) in L. lactis.

In addition to our lab work, we also plan to study these drawbacks and come up with
potential improvements to the existing model. This would include studying the effect
of temperature on mRNA folding, the interaction between the mRNA and the ribosomal S1
protein, the difference in optimal RBS-AUG spacing in Gram-positive and Gram-negative
bacteria, and the effect of RNAse-mediated degradation of the transcript.

Combining the model with an optimisation algorithm, we aim to rationally design the
‘best’ RBS for a given gene, in a given organism.

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