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| | <div style="background-color:#FF3333;font-family:Arial;font-size:10px;width:200px"> | | <div style="background-color:#FF3333;font-family:Arial;font-size:10px;width:200px"> |
| - | <p>Click <a href="https://2014hs.igem.org/Team:Acton-BoxboroughRHS">here</a> to go to the real wiki</p> | + | <p>Message</p> |
| | </div> | | </div> |
| | <div style="padding-top:1000px"> | | <div style="padding-top:1000px"> |
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| | <!--this is a comment!!--> | | <!--this is a comment!!--> |
| | <script type="text/javascript"></script> | | <script type="text/javascript"></script> |
| - | <script>
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| - | function to_project(){
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| - | document.getElementById("content").innerHTML="Kopi Luwak coffee is the rarest \
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| - | and the most expensive type of coffee in the world. This beverage is made \
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| - | from the feces of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) or Luwak,\
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| - | a cat-like omnivore that fills the niche of a racoon in Asia. The Asian Palm Civet \
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| - | eats raw coffee berries. As the berries are digested, enzymes in the animal's\
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| - | digestive tract break down components of the coffee bean that are responsible for its\
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| - | bitter taste. However, the beans themselves are not digested. The civet only digests the\
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| - | fleshy outer layer, so when it defecates, it leaves clumps of coffee beans that have been\
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| - | processed by its enzymes. The beans are then cleaned, roasted, and brewed to make the Kopi\
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| - | Luwak coffee. Due to the complexity of this process, Kopi Luwak is a very expensive item\
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| - | at $600 per pound. The outrageous price has made Kopi Luwak a novelty for the rich. Its \
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| - | allegedly excellent flavor is sadly something that most people are unable to afford. Another\
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| - | drawback of Kopi Luwak is that demand has driven businesses to animal cruelty in order \
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| - | to keep up production. A small civet farming industry has tens of thousands of civets\
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| - | living in battery cages being force fed coffee berries. Civets, being omnivores, are no\
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| - | more capable of surviving on coffee than humans. As a result their population is diminishing.\
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| - | We propose to make this process more humane, efficient, and sanitary by using bacteria instead of\
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| - | civets to process coffee berries into Kopi Luwak beans. We will accomplish this by inserting genes\
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| - | that code for proteins found in the civet's digestive tract into a hardy bacteria that can withstand\
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| - | the pH levels required for the proteins to operate. We intend to add genes for salivary amylase, pepsin,\
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| - | pancreatic amylase, trypsin, and chymotrypsin, sequenced from palm civets or closely-related species.\
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| - | Once the bacteria have been transformed, we will attempt to simulate the digestive process of the civet\
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| - | on coffee berries and analyze our results. Although this project seems unconventional, putting animal\
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| - | enzymes in bacteria has been done before to great effect. Take rennet cheese for an example. In order\
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| - | to obtain the enzymes required to produce this cheese, a calf must be slaughtered; the material (rennet)\
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| - | is taken from the dead animal's digestive tract. Now, due to growing demand for this cheese, bacteria containing\
| |
| - | the rennet enzymes are used instead. Today, the sale of these cheeses is a popular and profitable industry.\
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| - | By putting animal enzymes in bacteria, we create a digestive platform that is capable of processing more than\
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| - | just coffee berries.";
| |
| - | }
| |
| - | </script>
| |
| | </body> | | </body> |
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| | </html> | | </html> |
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