How to make a synthetic multicellular computer.

Area of Science:

• Synthetic biology
• Computational systems biology
• Bioengineering

Background:

• Biological systems exhibit robust computation across scales.
• Engineering metaphors aid in modeling and designing cellular computing networks.
• A key challenge in synthetic biology is the 'wiring problem' for molecular circuits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel approach using synthetic cellular consortia to simplify computational circuit design.
• To identify minimal sets of Boolean logic units for efficient computation in cellular consortia.
• To explore the implications of evolved logic units for synthetic biology design.

Main Methods:

• In silico evolution of computational circuits within cellular consortia.
• Analysis of minimal Boolean logic unit sets required for specific computational tasks.
• Comparison of evolved logic units with standard electronic logic gates.

Main Results:

• Synthetic cellular consortia enable distributed computation, mitigating wiring constraints.
• Evolved circuits frequently utilize non-standard logic units, notably N-Implies, alongside NOT and AND gates.
• Traditional electronic gates like NOR and NAND are rarely found in evolved synthetic circuits, suggesting limitations in their combinatorial utility.

Conclusions:

• Cellular consortia offer a promising strategy for designing complex synthetic computational systems.
• The prevalence of non-standard logic units highlights the need for new design principles in synthetic biology.
• Rethinking the reliance on conventional logic gate combinations is crucial for advancing synthetic computational constructs.