The quorum-sensing emitter cell emits a homoserine lactone, IV-HSL, which may induce other cells in the environment to respond. This demonstrates the production of a small molecule component through an expressed enzyme pathway, and the ability for signals generated by a synthetic cell to be amplified by a broader population of cells.
The quorum-sensing emitter module contains several parts which can be used in combination, with several alternative versions. The two key components are those which express the protein BjaI, producing the IV-HSL quorum sensing molecule, and those which receive the IV-HSL signal to produce a readout.
DNA Parts
All emitter module parts will appear in the Nucleus v0.2.0-001 DNA collection, coming soon.
- IV-HSL production
pT7-bjaI—Nucleus v0.2.0-001 Distribution Plate coming soonpPURE-bjaI—Nucleus v0.2.0-001 Distribution Plate coming soon- IV-HSL reception
pT7-bjaRbjaO-pT7-deGFPpGjaR-deGFPbjaR-GFP-nativebjaR-GFP-optimized
We are currently building and characterizing the module DNA for the quorum-sensing emitter module.
- Papers
- Developers
- Jefferson Smith & Michael Booth (Oxford / UCL)
- b.next