TWB supports the IGEM Toulouse 2024 team
About the BioMoon project
The bacteria Pseudomonas fluorescens is the heart of the project since it is naturally beneficial to the development and health of plants, by making certain nutrients more accessible for instance. The students of the BioMoon team had the idea of improving this bacteria to turn it into a real biostimulant. As part of the project, Pseudomonas fluorescens will be optimized in four ways and in the following order:- Integration of new genes allowing the bacteria to use creatinine as a source of carbon and nitrogen (creatinine is a component of human urine not yet used during manned space missions, for which any organic resource is precious);
- The increase of the production of bacterial biofilms to improve the low capacity of lunar soil to retain water;
- Integration of genes allowing the bacteria to produce nitrates, the preferred source of nitrogen for plants;
- Finally, since lunar soil induces many stresses for plants, the bacteria will be improved to neutralize toxic agents and regulate pH.
