ATF1 - aka Banada Sunday | Plasmid

As we are rolling out our first DNA Sale there is up to a 2 month lead time.

This plasmid is all about smells. Specifically, acetate esters. These are fruity smelling compounds that are made by combining various alcohols with acetate groups. This plasmid expresses ATF1 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is an enzyme that will perform the esterification reaction at room temperature with the assistance of Acetyl-CoA, which the bacteria produce naturally.

The enzyme is on a strong constitutive promoter so that not a lot of growth time is required to attain sufficient quantities of the enzyme for the reaction to happen. This is to limit the amount of indole that will build up, as E. coli naturally emit indole which has a fecale odour.

For this to work, you simply transfect your E. coli strain of choice with the plasmid, and then innoculate 1-10ml of LB with the modified bacteria. Let it grow for an hour or two, then add a few microliters of your alcohol of choice to the tube. The classic is isoamyl alcohol as it will produce a distinct banana smell when combined with the modified bacteria. But feel free to experiment with other alcohols. Hexanol or octanol are good choices as well.

The plasmid is based on pet9a, and as such uses kanamycin as the resistance marker, and is low copy. The DNA is provided as 10ug of freeze dried DNA and must be shipped express. Freeze and store at -20C on receipt.

Plasmid maps can be found on our github: HERE

These constructs are provided as open source for you to modify and use as you please. Though we do ask for attribution, and no direct commercial resale.