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Related Concept Videos

Synthetic Biology02:55

Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary science that involves using principles from disciplines such as engineering, molecular biology, cell biology, and systems biology. It involves remodeling existing organisms from nature or constructing completely new synthetic organisms for applications such as protein or enzyme production, bioremediation, value-added macromolecule production, and the addition of desirable traits to crops, to name a few.
Golden rice
Golden rice is a genetically modified...
Combinatorial Gene Control02:33

Combinatorial Gene Control

Combinatorial gene control is the synergistic action of several transcriptional factors to regulate the expression of a single gene. The absence of one or more of these factors may lead to a significant difference in the level of gene expression or repression.
The expression of more than 30,000 genes is controlled by approximately 2000-3000 transcription factors. This is possible because a single transcription factor can recognize more than one regulatory sequence. The specificity in gene...
DNA Microarrays02:34

DNA Microarrays

Microarrays are high-throughput and relatively inexpensive assays that can be automated to analyze large quantities of data at a time. They are used in genome-wide studies to compare gene or protein expression under two varied conditions, such as healthy and diseased states. Microarrays consist of glass or silica slides on which probe molecules are covalently attached through surface functionalization. Most commonly, the slides are prepared through the chemisorption of silanes to silica...
Protein Networks02:26

Protein Networks

An organism can have thousands of different proteins, and these proteins must cooperate to ensure the health of an organism. Proteins bind to other proteins and form complexes to carry out their functions. Many proteins interact with multiple other proteins creating a complex network of protein interactions.
These interactions can be represented through maps depicting protein-protein interaction networks, represented as nodes and edges. Nodes are circles that are representative of a protein,...
Protein Networks02:26

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An organism can have thousands of different proteins, and these proteins must cooperate to ensure the health of an organism. Proteins bind to other proteins and form complexes to carry out their functions. Many proteins interact with multiple other proteins creating a complex network of protein interactions.
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Reporter Genes02:11

Reporter Genes

Reporter genes are a type of protein-coding gene that are often tagged to a gene of interest. Once inside a target cell, reporter genes usually produce visually identifiable characteristics like fluorescence and luminescence when expressed along with the gene of interest. Thus, reporter genes “report” the presence or absence of genes of interest in an organism, determine the gene expression pattern, or track the physical location of a DNA segment or protein in the cell.
Commonly used reporter...

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Gene Digital Circuits Based on CRISPR-Cas Systems and Anti-CRISPR Proteins
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Synthetic gene networks that count.

Ari E Friedland1, Timothy K Lu, Xiao Wang

  • 1Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Center for BioDynamics and Center for Advanced Biotechnology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.

Science (New York, N.Y.)
|May 30, 2009
PubMed
Summary

Scientists engineered synthetic gene networks in E. coli to function as cellular counters, enabling programming of biological systems. These genetic circuits can count up to three induction events, paving the way for advanced biotechnology applications.

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Area of Science:

  • Synthetic Biology
  • Genetic Engineering
  • Systems Biology

Background:

  • Synthetic gene networks can mimic digital computing principles, like counting, for cellular programming.
  • Cellular counters are crucial for advancing synthetic programming and biotechnology.
  • Escherichia coli serves as a model organism for developing novel genetic circuits.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To engineer and characterize two distinct synthetic genetic counters in Escherichia coli.
  • To demonstrate the ability of these counters to track induction events.
  • To establish modular genetic devices for scalable counting applications.

Main Methods:

  • Construction of a riboregulated transcriptional cascade for counting.
  • Development of a recombinase-based cascade of memory units for counting.
  • Testing and validation of the synthetic counters in Escherichia coli.

Main Results:

  • Successfully created two complementary synthetic genetic counters capable of counting up to three induction events.
  • Demonstrated that these modular devices can count varied user-defined inputs.
  • Validated the functionality of both riboregulated and recombinase-based counting systems.

Conclusions:

  • Synthetic gene networks can be designed as functional cellular counters.
  • The developed counters are modular and can be expanded for higher-number counting.
  • These genetic counting devices offer potential for complex synthetic biology applications.