Isolation and Implementation of the Electron Shuttling Pathway from Geobacter into Escherichia coli
Department
Biological Sciences
Major
Biological Sciences
Research Advisor
Westenberg, David J.
Advisor's Department
Biological Sciences
Funding Source
Missouri S&T Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experiences (OURE) Program; Missouri S&T Department of Biological Sciences and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Energy Research and Development Center; Materials Research Center
Abstract
Certain bacteria, like Geobacter sulfurreducens, are naturally exoelectrogenic. In these organisms, electrons are shuttled outside of the cell during metabolism to reduce metals in the environment. This requires the use of c-type cytochromes; electron carrying proteins located on the periplasmic side of the cytoplasmic membrane. For c-type cytochromes to work properly, they must be transported to the correct location within the cell and covalently bound to a heme. In previous work, we theoretically isolated four outer membrane cytochrome genes and two combinations of those genes into plasmids. In this work, we confirm the presence of the cytochrome gene sequences in our plasmid set and worked to characterize the expression of the gene set in Escherichia coli.
Biography
Nichole is a senior in biochemical engineering. She has been involved in several organizations over her undergraduate career, including leadership positions in the International Genetically Engineered Machines student design team and Habitat for Humanity. She plans on entering industry after graduating this May.
Research Category
Sciences
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Document Type
Presentation
Location
Carver Room
Presentation Date
06 Apr 2011, 9:00 am - 9:30 am
Isolation and Implementation of the Electron Shuttling Pathway from Geobacter into Escherichia coli
Carver Room
Certain bacteria, like Geobacter sulfurreducens, are naturally exoelectrogenic. In these organisms, electrons are shuttled outside of the cell during metabolism to reduce metals in the environment. This requires the use of c-type cytochromes; electron carrying proteins located on the periplasmic side of the cytoplasmic membrane. For c-type cytochromes to work properly, they must be transported to the correct location within the cell and covalently bound to a heme. In previous work, we theoretically isolated four outer membrane cytochrome genes and two combinations of those genes into plasmids. In this work, we confirm the presence of the cytochrome gene sequences in our plasmid set and worked to characterize the expression of the gene set in Escherichia coli.
Comments
Joint project with Meghan Ray and Daniel Roush