Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 18, 2026

Rapid Characterization of Genetic Parts with Cell-Free Systems
Published on: August 30, 2021
Eukaryotic systems broaden the scope of synthetic biology
Karmella A Haynes1, Pamela A Silver
1Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. karmella_haynes@hms.harvard.edu
Abstract:
Synthetic biology aims to engineer novel cellular functions by assembling well-characterized molecular parts (i.e., nucleic acids and proteins) into biological "devices" that exhibit predictable behavior. Recently, efforts in eukaryotic synthetic biology have sprung from foundational work in bacteria. Designing synthetic circuits to operate reliably in the context of differentiating and morphologically complex cells presents unique challenges and opportunities for progress in the field. This review surveys recent advances in eukaryotic synthetic biology and describes how synthetic systems can be linked to natural cellular processes in order to manipulate cell behavior and to foster new discoveries in cell biology research.
Related Concept Videos
Synthetic Biology
Golden rice
Golden rice is a genetically modified...
Bioreactor Controls-III
Biosynthesis in Bacteria
The Central Dogma
RNA is the Missing Link Between DNA and Proteins
In the early 1900s, scientists discovered that DNA stores all the information needed for cellular functions and that proteins perform most of these functions. However, the mechanisms of converting genetic information into functional proteins remained unknown for many years. Initially, it was believed that a single gene is...
Upstream Processing
Genomic DNA in Eukaryotes

