Synthetic Biology Advance May Put Microbiomes on the Clock

저자：   업로드：2017-07-12  조회수：

    Researchers at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) have invented a new method for controlling gene expression across bacterial colonies. The method involves engineering dynamic DNA copy number changes in a synchronized fashion.

    Until now, methods for controlling or programming bacterial cells involved transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation. The UCSD team, led by Jeff Hasty, Ph.D., worked out a new method. It involves engineering dynamic DNA copy number changes in a synchronized fashion.

    Details of the new method appeared July 10 in the journal Nature Genetics, in an article entitled “Synchronized DNA Cycling across a Bacterial population.”  The article describes how DNA concentration can be increased to turn on a synthetic gene circuit. By controlling DNA copy number, researchers can effectively regulate gene expression.

    “We engineered colony-wide DNA cycling in Escherichia coli in the form of plasmid copy number oscillations via a modular design that can be readily adapted for use with other gene circuitry,” wrote the article’s authors. “Copy number modulation is a generalizable principle that adds a layer of control to synthetic gene circuits, allowing dynamic regulation of circuit elements without requiring specially engineered promoters.”

    Synthetic biology was firmly established in 2000, with the description of synthetic biological circuits in which parts of a cell are designed to perform functions, similar to the way an electronic circuit works. Also similar to an electronic circuit, the task performed by a biological circuit can be turned on and off. At the same time, researchers described the making of a "genetic clock," which involves placing genes in a particular order so that they'll be turned on at a specific time. This approach has also helped researchers understand natural "oscillators," such as our sleep–wake cycle.

    Since these early inventions, Dr. Hasty and his team have shown how engineered cellular oscillations can be synchronized within a bacterial colony using plasmids, synthetically designed by the researchers themselves. Now, the team is adding a new tool to the synthetic biologist's toolbox, a master clock that will allow researchers to coordinate subprocesses in bacterial cells.

    In the Nature Genetics paper, Dr. Hasty and his team described a two-plasmid

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