IGEM Amsterdam 2020 "Forbidden FRUITS"

Over IGEM Amsterdam 2020 "Forbidden FRUITS"

We are iGEM (The International Genetically Engineered Machine competition) 2020 Amsterdam team. We’re challenging the current limitations of biotechnology.

Our solution: We are identifying points in microbial metabolic networks that can be leveraged to couple biotechnological production to microbial growth. This means that microbes are incentivized to keep producing products of interest because it is necessary for their own growth. To accomplish this, we are modifying the existing FRUITS algorithm, which identifies opportunities for growth-coupled production within the metabolic network of a host organism. Traditionally, this algorithm has been limited to native metabolic products, but with our introduction of “Forbidden FRUITS” we will expand this tool to allow for the production of non-native metabolites, products that are not naturally made by a host microbe, and therefore ‘forbidden’, due to technological limitations. This conceptually means that we are expanding the variety of what we can produce, independent of which microbe is producing it. Salicylic acid made by E. coli? We are on it.

Join our journey : youtu.be/87vCNwwH_Rk

Or support us: igg.me/at/igem-amsterdam-2020/x/23221179