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Project
From 2012hs.igem.org
Overview
Our project, in essence, designs the perfect biological alarm clock/air freshener. Out project invoves planning and making a genetic circuit with the smell of the bacteria (banana or mint) dependent on the time of day (presence of light). The light receptor protein, obtained from photosynthetic algae, produces a banana smell, caused by the production of isoamyl acetate, on in the absence of light, and a mint smell, caused by the production of methyl salicylate and methyl benzoate, on in the presence of light. The presence of a strong wintergreen smell is used to help the user wake up, heightening their senses. At night, when no light is present, a banana odor produced will assist in calming down the user, helping them go to bed. This all occurs in the absence of electricity through pure biological systems. This system is the combination of two previous iGEM projects from MIT and the University of Texas.
