[BBF Standards] BioHackathon, or Characterization Challenge

[Drew Endy]

On Feb 11, 2008, at 8:44 PM, John Cumbers wrote:

> *Most off topic yet: it occurred to me the speed limitations we're  
> coming across are waiting for overnight cultures of E.coli.  Is  
> E.coli thecomputer punchcard of bio engineering, can we ditch it for  
> something that replicates faster?



Actually, this (i.e., can we ditch e.coli for a faster growing cell)  
is the most topical of your comments...

Do we need to standardize on one or more cellular chassis?

Could we ever agree to do so?

If yes and yes, then how would we go about it?

Doubling time / growth rate is only one characteristic that we might  
care about -- this specific characteristic could be paramount for  
certain applications of engineered biological systems (e.g., DNA  
construction), and could be meaningless (or worse) for other  
applications (e.g., programmed pattern formation).

Meanwhile, to answer your specific question, please consider the  
article by R. G. Eagon:
PSEUDOMONAS NATRIEGENS, A MARINE BACTERIUM WITH A GENERATION TIME OF  
LESS THAN 10 MINUTES
J. Bacteriol. 1962 83: 736-737
http://jb.asm.org/cgi/reprint/83/4/736

 From the article, "Optimal growth occurred at 37C in brain heart  
infusion broth supplemented with 1.5% sea salt."  Perhaps not ideal.

I remember pushing E. coli to a ~24 minutes doubling time in an ad hoc  
chemostat.

Whose got the fastest reported growth rate for E. coli?






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