Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@RedRussianBear

RedRussianBear/OMEGA_notes.md

Created April 12, 2019 20:52
Show Gist options
  • Star 0 You must be signed in to star a gist
  • Fork 0 You must be signed in to fork a gist
  • Save RedRussianBear/1ed1f0a7b967498cc261d86c574534df to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save RedRussianBear/1ed1f0a7b967498cc261d86c574534df to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Download ZIP
Raw
OMEGA_notes.md

Team OMEGA

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Importance

Health benefits of Omega-3 -- basically everything, but 90% of americans don't get enough. 3oz of fatty fish is the recommendation.

Overfishing, climate change make consumption of fish more difficult. Gene-modded crops inefficient.

Proposed Solution

Microbial proposal -- bacteria can synthesize EPA (one of the Omega-3s) if genetically modified. E. Coli modified to produce EPA-DHA using genes from S. Baltica.

Procedure

Grew S. Baltica. Extracted DNA by boiling. Cut in half to make compatible with cloning system. Confirmed that things were going well.

Conclusion

  • Succesfully isolated Omega-3 producing gene from S. Baltica.
  • Succesfully made cloning vector and hijacked some E. Coli (but not E. Coli Nissle, the probiotic one)

Future Directions

  • Would hijack E. Coli Nissle and try some other methods
  • Remove anti-biotic resistance

Interesting points from questions:

  • Too much Omega-3 can be bad, so would need to tune output.
  • E. Coli Nissle is not a very popular bacteria, could adapt method to something else.
  • What chemical activates the S. Baltica Omega-3 producing genes?
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment