What is the problem?

Cyanobacteria are photsynethic bacteria that are found in fresh, brackish, or marine water. Recently the presence of cyanobacteria has proliferated to problematic amounts because of favourable growing conditions such as warmer weather and higher levels of nitrogen and phosphporous. These blue-green algae blooms are a problem because they deplete oxygen levels and some varieties, such as Microcystis aeruginosa can release toxins that are harmful to the ecosytem and humans.

What are we trying to do?

We are trying to deliver a CRISPR-Cas13 system into cyanobacteria cells. To do this we are going to use a phage like partice (MS2) which encapsulates our system. Our system is very specific as crRNA which is designed to be complementary to the the sequence of mRNA Microcystis aeruginosa cyanobacteria. Once the crRNA and mRNA interactaction occurs the CAS13 enzyme will activate and cleave all targeting RNA within the cell eventually resulting in cell death. This does not edit the cyanobacteria’s genome Our system also makes use of the enzyme microcystinase-A (mlrA), which is a promising biotechnological application for water detoxification. MlrA cleaves the Arginine-ADDA peptide bond and linearizes the Microcystis aeruginosa toxin, microcystin-LR. Linearizing this toxic reduces it’s toxicity by 160-fold. We are trying to target cyanobacteria cells and the toxins they produce to reduce the sickness and harm they produce.

Why is this a good thing?

Not only are we reducing the toxins that cyanobacteria produce by a large factor, we are also doing it in a way that is not harmful such as current chemical treatments that kill other organisms.