Team:Brno Czech Republic

cs de en

Cyanobacterial contamination is becoming a major issue, deserving of our attention as it is gradually starting to affect our daily lives. It can be identified by its typical green color. Such water is not suitable for bathing as cyanobacterial toxins can cause a variety of issues, such as eczema, indigestion, liver and kidney failure at higher exposure and possibly even neurodegenerative diseases.

Increasing cyanobacterial overpopulation isn't only an issue for people looking for a good swim. The balance of local ecosystems gets uprooted as cyanobacteria take away nutrients and produce toxins that can harm other organisms.

So we set out to find a solution, using the tools of synthetic biology. Our idea is to construct a floating system with an inner chamber containing genetically modified bacteria called CYANOTRAP. The water would pass through the filters and get inside of our device, where the cyanobacteria could encounter our genetically modified Bacillus subtilis.

We decided to program B. subtilis to produce several enzymes: firstly microvirin to capture cyanobacterial cells, secondly lysozyme to disrupt their cell wall and finally enzymes from the mlr degradation pathway, which degrades the most common cyanotoxin - microcystin. 

We want to immobilize all these enzymes in our device on cellulosomes - a protein scaffold attached to the cell wall of our bacteria. This would allow for microvirin and lysozyme as well as the mlr enzymes to be closer to each other, thus increasing the effectiveness of the process.

Our bacteria would also carry another type of cellulosome containing a cellulose binding module. This would immobilize B. subtilis on cellulose beads to prevent our genetically modified bacteria from being released into nature.

While working on our project, we also wanted to educate people on the topic of GMOs and other related issues. We created and presented a lecture, informing about GMOs and discussing the misinformation surrounding them. We've been organizing a series of articles and interactive webinars, where people can read more in depth about many different scientific topics from the comfort of their home.

In order to help future iGEM teams working with B. subtilis we've compiled our experiences into a handbook, offering some general advice for cultivation and transformation of this bacteria.

Unfortunately we didn't manage to complete all that we've set out to do in the wet lab, mainly as a result of the limited time in which we could come to the lab due to the epidemiological situation here in Czech republic. However, we won't stop trying to achieve a safer, cleaner and smarter future for everyone by using the tools of synthetic biology and by educating the public about this topic.