Using Two-Component Systems and other Bacterial Regulatory Factors for the Fabrication of Synthetic Genetic Devices

摘要

Synthetic biology is an emerging field in which the procedures and methods of engineering are extended to living organisms, with the long-term goal of producing novel cell types that aid human society. For example, engineered cell types may sense a particular environment and express gene products that serve as an indicator of that environment, or effect a change in that environment. While we are still some way from producing cells with significant practical applications, the immediate goals of synthetic biology are to develop a quantitative understanding of genetic circuitry and its interactions with the environment and to develop modular genetic circuitry derived from standard, interoperable, parts, that can be introduced into cells and results in some desired input/output function. Using an engineering approach, the input/output function of each modular element is characterized independently, providing a toolkit of elements that can be linked in different ways to provide various circuit topologies. The principle of modularity, yet largely unproven for biological systems, suggests that modules will function appropriately based on their design characteristics when combined into larger synthetic genetic devices. This modularity concept is similar to that used to develop large computer programs, where inpendent software modules can be independently developed and later combined into the final program.