Design and construction of a double inversion recombination switch for heritable sequential genetic memory.

Area of Science:

• Synthetic Biology
• Molecular Biology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Inversion recombination elements offer unique binary states for biological computing and information encoding.
• DNA-encoded states overcome limitations of existing biological memory and logic gate systems.
• Strategic placement of recombinase sites enables theoretical complex sequential logic.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and synthesize a heritable sequential memory switch using inversion recombination.
• To integrate fim and hin inversion systems for a multi-state switch.
• To demonstrate DNA-encoded state memory independent of protein expression.

Main Methods:

• Utilized fim and hin inversion recombination systems.
• Integrated two inversion systems in an overlapping manner.
• Designed a switch analogous to a finite state machine.

Main Results:

• Created a heritable sequential memory switch with multiple states.
• Demonstrated state transitions encoding information into DNA.
• Achieved state memory retention even after cell death.
• Successfully transitioned into three out of five possible states, proving feasibility.

Conclusions:

• A heritable DNA-encoded memory system is achievable using inversion recombination.
• Inversion recombination systems are a viable starting point for advanced biological memory circuits.
• Multi-state temporal memory is feasible, despite incomplete circuit behavior.