McGill
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A major enhancement to the system this year is that we plan on adding the Ojalvo, Elowitz et al. - 'Represillator' system coupled to the two-gene oscillator in a single cell. The Repressilator is a 3-gene repressing network, where each gene represses the other, and so on. In turn, this system produces very clear oscillations but is hindered by noise and instability. It is theoried that this system can become highly stabilized if coupled with the 2-gene quorum-sensing oscillator, and once working side-by-side, the 2 systems will produce highly stable, smooth, sinusoidal oscillations. | A major enhancement to the system this year is that we plan on adding the Ojalvo, Elowitz et al. - 'Represillator' system coupled to the two-gene oscillator in a single cell. The Repressilator is a 3-gene repressing network, where each gene represses the other, and so on. In turn, this system produces very clear oscillations but is hindered by noise and instability. It is theoried that this system can become highly stabilized if coupled with the 2-gene quorum-sensing oscillator, and once working side-by-side, the 2 systems will produce highly stable, smooth, sinusoidal oscillations. | ||
| - | Both the quorum-sensing Oscillator and the Repressilator, though observed in a micro scale in our system, are important in helping understand time-varying conditions in the form of extrinsic driving from the environment and intrinsic rhythms generated within an organism itself. This includes specialized rhythm generators functioning in a coherent oscillatory state such as the cardiac pacemaker, also known as the sinoatrial node in mammalian hearts, and the circadian clock residing at the suprachiasmatic nuclei in mammalian brains. | + | Both the quorum-sensing Oscillator and the Repressilator, though observed in a micro scale in our system, are important in helping understand time-varying conditions in the form of extrinsic driving from the environment and intrinsic rhythms generated within an organism itself. This includes specialized rhythm generators functioning in a coherent oscillatory state such as the cardiac pacemaker, also known as the sinoatrial node in mammalian hearts, and the circadian clock residing at the suprachiasmatic nuclei in mammalian brains. <br> |
| - | [[McGill/Project Description| | + | [[McGill/Project Description|Project Description]]<br> |
[[McGill/Team_2_More_Information|More Information]] <br> | [[McGill/Team_2_More_Information|More Information]] <br> | ||
[[McGill/Team_2_Background_Papers|Background Papers]] <br> | [[McGill/Team_2_Background_Papers|Background Papers]] <br> | ||
Revision as of 13:39, 9 August 2007
Project OverviewQuorum-sensing coupled with the Repressilator Our project is a continuation of one of the projects we presented last year: a two-gene oscillator, with an 'On' switch - LuxI gene, and an 'Off' switch - LacI, with a Cyan fluorescent protein bound, for visualization. This system works via the method of quorum-sensing between the two genes, with a diffusable artificial inducer (AI) protein produced by LuxI which couples when produced, to a constitutive gene in the system, LuxR to bind to LacI to turn the system off. Once AI is produced, it can spread to other cells and continue this 'On'-'Off' oscillator in other neighbouring cells, and hence increasing synchronization across a population of genetically oscillating cells.
Both the quorum-sensing Oscillator and the Repressilator, though observed in a micro scale in our system, are important in helping understand time-varying conditions in the form of extrinsic driving from the environment and intrinsic rhythms generated within an organism itself. This includes specialized rhythm generators functioning in a coherent oscillatory state such as the cardiac pacemaker, also known as the sinoatrial node in mammalian hearts, and the circadian clock residing at the suprachiasmatic nuclei in mammalian brains. Project Description
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