From 2007.igem.org

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Introduction | Applications | Objectives | Design | Modelling | Wet Lab | References

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Colour Production

The zeaxanthin operon is naturally found in many plants and bacteria. The operon encodes five genes, which enable the production of the yellow pigment zeaxantin.

The five genes present in the zeaxanthin operon are:

• CrtE
• CrtB
• CrtI
• CrtY
• CrtZ

The enzymes encoded by these genes and the products formed are displayed in figure 1.

There are three pigments produced by the genes with in the zeaxanthin operon and a brief description of each is given below:

Lycopene

The genes CrtE, CrtB and CrtI produce lycopene from farnesyl diphosphate (an intermediate in the mevlonate pathway).

Lycopene is a red pigment (found in tomatoes), which also has extremally powerful antioxidant properties and may possibly help protect you from cancer.

B-carotene

B-carotene is produced by cyclising lycopene, which is carried out by lycopene B-cyclase encoded by the gene CrtY (see figure )

B-carotene has an orange pigmentation and is responsible for the colour of carrots, winter squash and several other vegetables. The pigment can be stored in the liver and converted to Vitamin A, a form of retinol, required for sight.

zeaxanthin

Addition of CrtZ to the CrtEBIY construct enables the hydroxylation of B-carotene (see figure 1) to zeaxanthin, which is a yellow pigment.

Proposed Biobricks

We plan to produce five different biobricks with varying combinations of the five zeaxanthin genes. A brief overview of three of these biobricks is shown in figure 2.

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Introduction | Applications | Objectives | Design | Modelling | Wet Lab | References

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