Valencia/Comparator
From 2007.igem.org
The Biological Comparator
The objective of our project is to create a device which behavior resembles an electronic comparator.
The comparator works analyzing two input signals, like two proteins or metabolites, and responses with a given output, as fluorescence, related to the concentration of the input signal. Each input has an associated fluorescence color.
The interesting part is that differences of the output signals become amplified whenever a slight disparity between the initial concentrations of the input signals occurs. If the inputs are equally sensed, both fluorescence have equal concentrations, but whenever one of the input’s level is above the other, this fluorescence becomes greater and the other one gets inhibited. This way, we get an amplification at the output level of a small difference at the input level.
One of the principal reason why we decided to develop this project was the potential modularity of its design. Just by changing the promoters this device could be used for compare whatever you want.
The comparator device could be implemented in more complex systems, like a concentration stabilizer; a quality checker, verifying the right levels of an input; and could be designed a system with two or more comparators interconnected.
