It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s SUPERBACTERIA!2013hs.igem.org/files/presentation/SharonBasicallyAcid.pdf · Hydroponics What is hydroponics? An alternative method for growing

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s

SUPERBACTERIA!Presented by Sharon High School’s Basically Acid

iGEM Jamboree 2013

Agenda

Hydroponics

Parts

Superbacteria saves the day!

Safety

Our Team

Hydroponics What is hydroponics?

An alternative method for growing plants that does not use soil.

What are the advantages of hydroponics?

Conserves water

Easy to Control

No Pesticides

Consistent Plant Yield

Mobility

What are the types of hydroponics?

Solution Culture

Static

Continuous Flow

Aeroponics

Medium Culture

Hydroponics in Action

A Hydroponics Setup

Parts

pH Sensor (BBa_K116001)

Green Florescent Protein (GFP) (BBa_E0840)

Superbacteria saves the day! Our Idea

A bacteria that eliminates the need for machinery to monitor and adjust nutrient levels in hydroponics.

Our Project

Our project is the first step of the Superbacteria: bacteria that will indicate when the pH is not ideal for growth.

Why Superbacteria Works

Easily controllable and serves the same purpose as machines

Problems Superbacteria Solves

Expensive

Only one plant at a time can use this machinery

Mass plant death due to malfunction

What a Proton Pump Could Do V-ATPases are found in many eukaryotic cells

They are found in both intracellular organelles as well as on the plasma membranes and are used to balance pH in intracellular and extracellular environments

One of the proton pump subunit genes, ATP6C, has been identified

The pH sensor and color reporter will be linked with repressor

When the bacteria is not in a in optimal pH the repressor will not be expressed and then the proton pump will begin to function

This would entail that a proton pump could be integrated into an E.Colicellular membrane

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11519050

Safety

Some safety concerns include:

Adding foreign substances to a plant’s nourishing medium can cause disruption

The bacteria could leak into surrounding areas

Acid rain or water can change the pH

One solution to these issues is to make the bacteria dependent on the medium.

Our Team Members

Jasmina Prabhakara

Leanne Lupone

Manasa Raman

Jasmine Garani

Anastasia Alekseyeva

Seth Judson

Divya Muthusamy

Raghav Sundar

Ryan McCann

Isabelle Leo

Shwetha Sundar

VithushaThirumavalavan

Benn Bluestein-Veyra

Domenic Roberto

Olivia Roman

Shelly Mishra

Lia Mongado

Daniel Gurfinkel

Niharika Kareddy

Melissa Langley

Kristine Moran

Rishi Gupta

Noosha Uddin

Our MentorsFor dealing with us, they really deserve a medal!

Mr. Dixon Mr. Snow

A Very Special Thanks to Superintendent Timothy Farmer.

Mr. Farmer was very supportive of our team, and we would never have been able to make it to the Jamboree without him.

Thank you to New England Bio Labs

Thank you!Any questions?