XJTU-China
(https://2021.igem.org/Team:XJTU-China/Partnership)We are the earliest two teams to participate in iGEM in Shaanxi, and we cooperate deeply every year. Because of the geographical advantage, we can communicate offline.
· The first encounter this year
In May 2021, we hosted 2021 Northwestern China iGEM Meetup and got an enthusiastic response from XJTU-China. We surprisingly found they were working to make a strain with high tryptophan production, which also be useful for us. At this meeting, we looked forward to future cooperation and hoped to cooperate in experiments and human practices.
XJTU-China 's presentation
Group photo of offline participants
· Our HP Cooperation Journey
Entering June, the two teams were committed to laboratory work, there were also some confusions about the experiments. XJTU-China contacted the experts and enthusiastically invited us to participate. At the invitation of XJTU-China, the two teams interviewed Professor Xu of Xi'an Jiaotong University. Through the interview with Professor Xu, we had a deeper understanding of synthetic biology and we became more interested in related fields. At the same time, Professor Xu also solved the problems we met in plasmid construction. You can click here for more information about this interview. https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1RA411A7if?spm_id_from=333.999.0.0
Then, the HP members of the two teams exchanged their ideas. Daiyun Dong of XJTU-China introduced their vision of HP, mainly including expert interview, enterprise research, questionnaire survey, education and so on. NWU-CHINA-A also expressed our expectations for later cooperation in video education and public exhibitions.
We were discussing about human practice
· Help each other with experiments
In July, XJTU-China failed in the transformation experiment and asked us for help. We analyzed the possible reasons and suggested it might because of the quality problem of antibiotics. Then we provided them with antibiotics from another manufacturer to help them solve this problem.
We were always worrying about our data measurements. XJTU-China shared the experience in using the microplate reader with us. Besides, they gave us suggestions on data measurement. In later communication, we learned that our antibiotics successfully solved the problem of screening failure that had troubled them for nearly a month. And thanks to XJTU-China, we quickly got acquainted with the operation of the microplate reader.
In addition, both of us used seamless cloning, XJTU-China used the technology of golden gate, and we use In-Fusion technology. XJTU-China wanted to transfer their genes to pET28a, to improve their success rate, we designed a cloning scheme for them through In-Fusion and verified it in the laboratory successfully.
BJU_China
(https://2021.igem.org/Team:BJU_China/Partnership)We learned that BJU_China and our project have something in common. And then we shared our project online, in which, we found that both of us use E. coli as the strain to produce Tyrain Purple although BJU_China focuses on applying products to sensitized solar cell layers and we are working on dyeing. We kept in touch since then and encouraged each other. Moreover, we have had deep cooperation in modeling and experiment.
· Modeling
In terms of modeling, we learned that BJU_ China is a high school team and lacked the knowledge of model and Matlab. Thus, our members in charge of modeling assisted them and we reached long-term cooperation in this part. Firstly, our team explained the modeling knowledge applicable to iGEM, including differential equations and solving differential equations with Matlab.
Then we communicated timely and answer their questions through WeChat.
Our group chat
In our subsequent modeling, we discussed specific models through VooV meetings.
Modeling meeting
· Experiment
In the process of experiment, we wanted to optimize the reaction system through knocking out the tryptophanase gene of E. coli. We thought CRISPR/cas9 technology could fulfill this. However, we did not have access to the plasmids. BJU_ China generously provided us with the plasmids, which ensured the progress of subsequent work. In terms of dye production, BJU_China had problems of low yield and weak color change. After learning about their operation of experiment, we suggested that they should use LB medium as the reaction buffer instead of NPB(Sodium hydrogen phosphate buffer). In the process of verifying CRISPR/Cas9, BJU_China suggested that we should look for the E. coli genome and design primers upstream and downstream of TnaA instead of designing primers on TnaA.
Experimental discussion meeting
SZPT-CHINA
(https://2021.igem.org/Team:SZPT-CHINA/Partnership)SZPT-CHINA is our partner for several years, we maintain close cooperation every year. This year, we have deep cooperation in experiment, human practice, education, etc. Because of the impact of COVID-19, our communication this year are all online. Each of our online communication was recorded and uploaded to the official account.
This is the stories about us —
On July 16, we had the first formal communication online. We learned about each other's projects. Besides, we planned to help each other with questionnaires. Most importantly, we decided to hold an online meeting once a week in the future to learn about each other's progress and communicate in time.
On July 23, we reported the experimental progress of each other. Then we discussed the form of each other's products. We finally reached a consensus that lyophilization is an optimal form. In addition, we also discussed the hardware for production.
On July 26, we accepted the invitation of SZPT-CHINA to participate in their lecture on the theme of business for good.
We are committed to producing a biological dye this year, and this lecture made us realized that we should pursue excellence of products.
On July 30, we communicated online as usual. At this time, we found that our sequencing results did not match our expectation, so we turned to SZPT-CHINA for advice. They suggested that we should continue to characterize it in the laboratory.
We also shared the difficulties of each other's market investigation, both parties were rejected by enterprises so we decided to help each other find local enterprises related to the project.
On August 2, we successfully contacted Xi'an Donghai Live Bacteria Brand Promotion Co., Ltd. and facilitated their communication with SZPT-CHINA on August 5. They learned about the issues related to the product development direction from this communication. On the same day, SZPT-CHINA recommended the Huaxing Ruihong Washing Plant for us, and we communicated on August 6. We learned that the environmental pollution problem of dye production is serious and the development of biological dyes is very necessary.
On August 6, we thanked each other for generous help and reported the progress. And then we accepted the invitation of SZPT-CHINA to dub their picture book in our dialects.
Our dub in dialect for their picture book
On August 13, in addition to the usual exchanges about experiments and human practices, we accepted the invitation of SZPT-CHINA to hold a lecture together.
On August 20, SZPT-CHINA encountered difficulties in gene expression and PCR. For gene expression, we suggested that they should design pre-experiments with different condition. For PCR, we recommend a useful DNA polymerase product and set up different controls in the experiments. And thanks to SZPT-CHINA’s pre-publicity, our live broadcast was successful. Besides, September is the beginning of the school session, we could not communicate during the weekday because of the courses, so we changed the weekly meeting to Saturday.
On September 11, we discussed lyophilization again, we solved each other’s problems and shared some tips for experiments. Besides, we introduced our large plasmid system to SZPT-CHINA, which is a plasmid that contains three genes of enzyme on a single plasmid and accurately regulated by different promoters. We were at the stage of finding a suitable promoter. SZPT-CHINA introduced that their photopromoter has been verified in E. coli. Then they shared the gene of the photopromoter, so that our large plasmid system was theoretically possible.
The plasmid map of our large plasmid system
On September 19, we proposed experimental cooperation. In addition to traditional fabrics, we wanted to test the feasibility of our products on biological materials. We thought bacterial cellulose was a good choice. The production of bacterial cellulose is a part of SZPT-CHINA's project this year. But due to biosafety restrictions, we finally gave up this idea, but we will continue to cooperate in the future if conditions permit.
We would like to express our gratitude to SZPT-CHINA who accompanied us along the way. We encourage each other and sincerely hope that each other will get good results.