Two years ago, Matúš Grieš, Miroslav Rosputinský and Matej Zámečník discovered the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition, better known as iGEM. Last spring, they took part in a SynBio Hackathon, where the idea for their scientific project was born, and they decided to take it further by developing it for iGEM.
“We love competing – and even more, we love winning. And this competition actually has a meaningful purpose,” says Matúš Grieš, a student at the MU Faculty of Science, explaining why they decided to take part. iGEM brings together teams from around the world, including those from top global universities. This year, more than 400 teams from over 50 countries are in the running.
The Brno team has 23 members, including students from Masaryk University, Brno University of Technology, and the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague – plus one high school student. “We’ve got Anička Podmanická on the team, who recently won the European Earth Prize with her project focused on removing antibiotics and resistant bacteria from water,” adds Grieš.
Making better use of liquid manure
The team, calling themselves iGEM Brno, is aiming to stand out on the global stage with an ambitious project tackling the inefficient use of nitrogen-based fertilizers. “Producing nitrogen – specifically ammonia – requires a huge amount of energy. And when it’s used as fertilizer, it’s often applied in concentrations that plants can’t fully absorb. That leads to environmental pollution,” explains Grieš. “Our goal is to offer a method that could help reduce the need for nitrogen in agriculture.”
The young researchers decided to focus specifically on liquid manure – a byproduct of livestock that’s commonly used as fertilizer due to its high ammonia content. “We’re big supporters of the circular economy, so we started thinking about how to improve the cycle where farm animals eat plant-based feed, produce liquid manure, and that manure is then used to grow more feed. The problem is that a large part of the ammonia simply evaporates without being used,” explains one of the founding members of the competition team.
At the centre of their attention is a water plant called duckweed – the smallest flowering plant in the world. What makes it interesting is how fast it grows and its ability to tolerate much higher concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus than other plants.
“We want to use these qualities to create a system where duckweed is grown in a bath of liquid manure, producing enough biomass to feed the animals,” adds Barbora Gavendová, another team member from the MU Faculty of Science. This way, part of the nitrogen stays fixed within the cycle instead of being released into the environment.
Duckweed in the hands of synthetic biologists
“Duckweed may grow the fastest, have a very high protein content, and absorb a lot of nitrogen – but it still isn’t quite enough to make it economically sustainable for farmers. That’s why we’re trying to modify it so it grows even faster and can tolerate even higher nitrogen levels,” Grieš explains.
The students are therefore trying to insert modified DNA into the plant to boost its growth and increase its nitrogen tolerance. The problem is that duckweed tends to resist this kind of genetic intervention. Scientists around the world have trouble getting foreign DNA into the nucleus of duckweed cells to alter its properties.
So the team came up with a solution based on transposons – sequences of DNA that can move around within the genome and replicate themselves. “We want to use this natural mechanism to insert the genes we’ve selected to enhance duckweed growth directly into its genetic code,” says Gavendová. “It’s inspired by research published last year by Keith Slotkin. He tested the method on other plants and we’re now trying to adapt it for duckweed.”
As Grieš points out, the team’s goal is to develop a method that could shorten the time needed to edit duckweed’s genome from six months to just one, with a success rate of around 30 percent. He also shares a behind-the-scenes detail from the competition: “One of the iGEM ambassadors, who supports the participating teams, told me that the judges actually have successful duckweed genome editing on their list of things that are currently considered impossible but that they’d love to see solved by an iGEM team.”
Biology, engineering, communication
The young team has until the end of October to make progress on this challenge. But that’s far from the only thing the competition evaluates. Teams must demonstrate the potential of their idea, its benefit to humanity, and, of course, present it all as clearly and convincingly as possible. What’s more, this and other issues tackled in the competition are multidisciplinary. So alongside their lab work to edit duckweed’s genome, the team is also developing methods for how it can be cultivated effectively.
“We’ve divided ourselves into three groups. The Synbio Hackers are working on developing a fast-growing and resilient duckweed clone, the Cultivation Hustlers are focused on optimizing how duckweed is grown and harvested, and the Duckweed Hipsters are in charge of promoting the team’s work,” explains Zdenka Vilhanová, who leads the Duckweed Hipsters.
And the Brno team has already achieved its first major milestone: the technical group successfully built an autonomous vertical cultivation system. “In the competition, teams can earn bronze, silver or gold medals and we’ve already met the criteria for gold,” says Grieš, speaking about their ambitions. “On top of that, we’re aiming for the three special awards and of course, for the Grand Prize!”
A key part of the team’s work also involves consulting with experts, scientists and farmers. They’re also actively promoting both their project and synthetic biology in general through social media and at various university and public events. One of the next stops on their outreach journey will be this year’s Mendel Festival during the summer holidays.
They also face the challenge of securing financial support, as participating in the competition is quite costly. Just the registration fee alone was 137,000 Czech crowns and attending the Grand Jamboree – the final event where all teams come together – costs another 66,000 crowns per team plus additional fees for each individual participant. And of course, funding is needed to cover the project itself as well.
“We’ve already received support from the Faculty of Science at Masaryk University, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Information Technology at Brno University of Technology, as well as from companies like BioVendor and Tensor Ventures,” lists Vilhanová with gratitude. “We’re also getting help with materials and facilities from MBL, LMDM, CEITEC MU, ThermoFisher, StrojLab, GMI Vienna and others.”
She adds that the iGEM Brno team plans to raise additional funds through a crowdfunding campaign. People can help the students win the biggest competition in synthetic biology this September on the Donio platform.