OrganismSelection

There are many possible organisms we can culture in the ministat. We are particularly interested in those suitable for "benchtop evolution" experiments.

Criteria

Example of things that are relevant:

• safety, best is FDA approved as GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe)
• growth rate, ability to use various feedstock (glucose, galactose)
• genetic tools. The more genetic tools are avaialble, the better and easier to implement any synthetic biology project.
• how much do we understand the biochemistry / genetics of the organism. Ideally, if the genome is well studied and characterized, that makes comparative genomics (i.e. analyses of the difference between WT strain and evolved one) easier.
• previous work and applicability to the desired application being pursued.

Yeasts

• Sac. Cerevisiae, the beer/wine brewing yeast
  GRAS

Bacteria

• E. coli
• B. Coagulans, lactic acid producer
  GRAS
• Pseudomonas

Phages