Team:UNSW Australia

iGEM UNSW

Australia has lost 50% of the Great Barrier Reef since 1985, with five mass bleaching events occurring in the last two decades

WITH NO SIGN OF CORAL BLEACHING STOPPING
You see, coral polyps provide a home for symbiotic algae, which in turn give the coral energy and its vibrant colour.

THE PROBLEM

But since...

Pollution
Global Warming
Over Fishing


... SEA TEMPERATURES ARE RISING
and corals are becoming more "bleached".
When stressed, the algae release toxic 'reactive oxygen species'.
To stop coral from being poisoned by algae, the coral must expel it.
Leaving the coral vulnerable to starvation and disease.
OUR SOLUTION

Engineer Symbiodinium (in particular, Symbiodinium goreaui) to express a glutathione recycling enzyme system and small heat shock proteins (sHSP)


Introduce enzymes that produce and recycle glutathione, a molecule that neutralises ROS
Introduce small heat shock proteins originally found in a different heat-loving algae to mitigate protein unfolding