Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2026

DNA-Tethered RNA Polymerase for Programmable In vitro Transcription and Molecular Computation
Published on: December 29, 2021
Design and characterization of a three-terminal transcriptional device through polymerase per second
Prasanna Amur Varadarajan1, Domitilla Del Vecchio
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. prasn@umich.edu
Abstract:
In this paper, we provide an in silico input-output characterization of a three-terminal transcriptional device employing polymerase per second (PoPS) as input and output. The device is assembled from well-characterized parts of the bacteriophage lambda switch transcriptional circuit. We draw the analogy between voltage and protein concentration and between current and PoPS to demonstrate that the characteristics of the three-terminal transcriptional device are qualitatively similar to those of a bipolar junction transistor (BJT). In particular, as it occurs in a BJT, the device can be tuned to operate either as a linear amplifier or as a switch. When the device operates as a linear amplifier, gains of twofolds can be obtained, which are considerably smaller than those obtained in a BJT (in which 100-fold amplification gains can be reached). This fact suggests that the parts extracted from natural transcriptional systems may be naturally designed mostly to process and store information as opposed to amplify signals.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Bacterial Transcription
Transcription can be divided into three main stages, each involving distinct DNA sequences to guide the polymerase. These are:
Transcription Attenuation in Prokaryotes
There are several different mechanisms used to attenuate transcription. In ribosome mediated...
Bacterial RNA Polymerase
In most genes, the transcription site is a single base present upstream of the coding sequence. Though RNAP is a catalytically efficient enzyme, it does not recognize...
PCR
Transcription Initiation
The promoters and enhancers and their accessory proteins allow tight regulation of...
RNA Polymerase II Accessory Proteins

