About This Project

We are the ECHHS iGem team! Last year, we successfully tested a plasmid that identifies fluoride bioswitches. We won an award at iGem, the largest synthetic biology competition. This year's project will expand on our results. Our main hypothesis is if we find an effective fluoride riboswitch, than we can use it so sequester, bioremediate, and detect fluoride. Our team needs help to cover the competition registration fees & pay for lab materials.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Excess fluoride in water can cause severe health defects, such as dental and skeletal fluorosis (teeth and bones decay), as well as developmental and reproductive issues. Especially in poorer countries, where there's often erosion of sediments or volcanic rocks, toxic fluoride concentrations can have severe repercussions. Our team successfully designed a system, called the "Fluoride Riboswitch Regulated Chloramphenicol Acetyltransferase Operon" (CHOP), to characterize the responsiveness of fluoride riboswitches. This system allows bacteria to grow only in the presence of fluoride. It can be used to identify riboswitches with higher responsiveness to fluoride. However, the CHOP system is only the beginning. This summer, we will use the CHOP to combat excess fluoridation.

What is the significance of this project?

Fluoride is present in all bodies of water: oceans, rivers, lakes, and groundwater. Erosion of sediments or volcanic rocks contributes to higher levels of fluoride. Exposure to more than 6mg of fluoride everyday can be toxic, and lead to dental and skeletal fluorosis, which is the decay of teeth and bones. Doses of fluoride that result in 4.5mg/kg body weight can cause developmental and reproductive concerns and affect the growth as well as mental development of people.

What are the goals of the project?

Last year we successfully tested a DNA system called CHOP that we cloned into E. coli. Bacteria with the CHOP DNA system only grow on plates with fluoride. We also added a antibiotic chloramphenicol resistant gene, so only E. coli that have the CHOP DNA system successfully inserted will grow. For this year's project we plan to modify our CHOP system to bioremediate fluoride.

This summer, we will use our CHOP system to identify more effective fluoride riboswitches with a higher affinity to fluoride. From there, we can use the riboswitch to control the enzymes that metabolize fluoride. This will work to bioremediate fluoride.