A team of Imperial students have genetically engineered bacteria to help plants survive soil erosion and scooped up top prizes at the final of the 2011 iGEM World Championships - News

By Simon Levey
Wednesday 9 November 2011 

A team of students who have genetically engineered bacteria to help plants survive soil erosion have scooped top prizes at the final of the 2011 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) World Championship at MIT.

The nine undergraduates, from Departments of Bioengineering and Life Sciences at Imperial College London, stormed through to the Grand Final with their developments using genetically engineered E.coli bacteria to solve the dual problems of desertification and poor crop growth in arid climates around the world.

Imperial's 'Auxin' project came second out of 167 university projects, winning the first Runner-Up prize after being pitted against competing teams from MIT, University of Washington (the overall winners) and ZJU-China in the competition’s final challenge. The Imperial team were also joint winners of the 'iGEMers Prize' for the best team, voted for by all the teams who took part in the competition. This prize recognised 'all round awesomeness in their project'. In addition, the team was honoured with a Gold Medal and the award for the best poster.

These awards follow the team's success at the European Final in Amsterdam at the beginning of October, where they beat 60 other leading European universities to first place, and earned the prize for the best Wiki.

Soil erosion is caused by wind and rain sweeping away fertile topsoil, and it is accelerated by climate change and unsustainable farming practices. Across the world, these problems prevent crops and other plants from growing on land areas equivalent to half the size of the UK each year.

Imperial iGEM team demonstrate 'Auxin', a genetic engineering project to combat soil erosion

engineering, bioengineering, natural sciences, life sciences, synthetic biology, student, competition

E.coli bacteria in a root (shown as fluorescent green dots), as seen under a light microscope (Credit: Auxin)

The iGEM team have engineered E.coli in the laboratory to be able to actively seek out seedling plants and help them to survive better in poor-quality eroded soil. In tests, the bacteria make their way inside the plant, where they encourage its roots to grow faster and longer than normal, by producing a naturally occurring growth hormone called auxin. These longer roots secure the plant firmly in the ground, near to its source of nutrients, and give the additional benefit of protecting the fertile topsoil by preventing it from being swept away.

The design included a chemical safety feature that minimised the risk of the modified E.coli accidentally passing their engineered DNA to other bacteria in the soil. The students consulted a range of experts at an early stage in the project to ensure that it would be viable and responsible, taking into consideration advice from plant scientists and ecologists as well as social scientists, agricultural and international NGOs and legal experts.

Imperial's iGEM team were led by Professor Richard Kitney from the Department of Bioengineering and Professor Paul Freemont from the Department of Life Sciences. The Professors brought to the project a wealth of scientific expertise as co-Directors of the National EPSRC Centre for Synthetic Biology and Innovation at Imperial.

Following the announcement of the iGEM prizes, Professor Kitney said: "Our team's achievements have really stood out this year, they have all excelled in their personal performances as well as coming together as a well-oiled synthetic biology machine. I think the iGEMers award sums it up – an all-round awesome performance.

Imperial's successful iGEM 2011 team

"The Imperial team scored highly in the competition because they were able to bring together a number of key factors in their design and implementation, including: human practice, a study of the environment and societal impact; application of engineering design methods to biology; extensive computer modelling to influence and assisted the design; and complex experimental processes in the laboratory."

Congratulating the Auxin team, Professor Freemont said: "Imperial undergraduate students never cease to amaze me in their commitment to tackle serious world problems and their abilities to come up with innovative solutions."

He added: "The team worked extremely hard over the summer and their hard work and creative thinking has now been rewarded. They also managed to have some fun including setting up the online Radio iGEM, with its broadcasts from throughout the project including  a radio play set in a future world of synthetic biology."

Read more about Auxin's project at the team's award-winning Wiki.