For further analysis the results of our in vitro testing have been compared to the work in vivo on [http://partsregistry.org/Part:BBa_F2620 BBa_F2620](pTet-LuxR-pLux-GFPmut3b), the construct being the same as our construct 1 for infecter detector. The motivation of the comparison is to see how this construct will respond in different chassis. To do this we investigated a standard unit s to allow the comparison between in vitro and in vivo.
The basis for comparison is to normalise the in vitro chassis on the number of plasmids to give a platform for comparison:
In Vitro - 4µg of DNA was added which for [http://partsregistry.org/Part:BBa_T9002 pTet-LuxR-pLux-GFPmut3b] is 904823007 plasmids
In Vivo - Each cell the plasmids number was estimated at 30 per cell
To compare we normalised the data of in vitroGFPmut3b molecules synthesised per 30 plasmids to allow some comparison to the in vivo data.
Of particular interest was to compare the:
Rate of GFP synthesis of 100nM
Transfer Function.
Comparison between in vivo and in vitro for rate of GFPmut3b synthesis for 100nM AHL. The in vivo chassis used was the bacterial strain MG1655 and the in vitro chassis was Promega Commercial S30 Cell Extract. The graph shows the following: *in vivo has a maximal rate of 400-500 molecules of GFP synthesised per second per cell. In addition the rate reaches a steady state after around 30minutes and maintains it for the duration of the testing. *in vitro has the equivalent of 220 molecules of GFP synthesised per second per cell equivalent, the cell equilavent being based upon the normalization of DNA plasmids. Interestingly the in vitro chassis does not reach a steady state, in fact it decreases in rate of synthesis after 90 minutes and keeps decreasing until rate is zero at around 360 minutes. The reason why the in vitro chassis never reaches a steady state is because of the limited energy and metabolites available, this is unlike in vivo which is supported by the media that it is grown upon. Interestingly the values of rate of synthesis are in the same order magnitude of hundreds, this suggesting that the normalisation we are using to compare these chassis is valid.
Transfer Function
The graph above shows the transfer function of [AHL] input vs rate of GFP synthesis output. The graph shows the max rate of synthesis for each of the chassis; for in vivo this is the steady state reached after about 30 minutes and for in vitro it is the rate between 60 and 90 minutes which is the maximum rate before the energy limitations of the system cause the rate to drop. The blue line on corresponds to the range of AHL and the response of the in vitro chassis.
The key difference between the chassis is the rate of GFP synthesis which is lower in the in vitro chassis e.g. for 1000nM of AHL the rate of GFP synthesis in vivo is ~450 GFP molecules per sec per cell,in vitro has an equivalent value of 220 GFP molecules per second.
The shape of the transfer function is very similar for both chassis, both begin to saturate at around 1000nM of AHL and the threshold of sensitivity is around 1nM AHL. It is very surprising that a construct works so similar in different chassis, showing the affect of the chassis is minimal to the constructs behavior.
Summary
Below is list of which of the orginial Specifications that our infecter detector achieved:
Property
Value
Achievements
Inputs
System must be sensitive to AHL concentration between 5-50nM
Sensitive to 5-1000nM
Outputs
System must give a visual signal if bacteria is present
Future work - Using Stronger fluorescent protein such as DsRed express
Response Time
System needs to have a response time under 3 hour
Systems responds <30minutes
Operating Conditions
System must operate within temperature 20-30°C
System works at 25°C
Health & Safety
System Must not be living replicating bacteria, and in any way harmful or infectious.