Development and experimental validation of a mechanistic model of in vitro DNA recombination

Engineering cellular memory is a key area of research in which Synthetic Biology has already begun to make significant impacts. Recent work elucidating transcriptional memory devices has paved the way for the creation of bistable genetic switches based on DNA recombination. Attempts to experimentally design and build synthetic systems using recombinases have thus far been hindered by a lack of validated computational models that capture the mechanistic basis of DNA recombination. The predictive capabilities of such models could be exploited by Synthetic Biologists to reduce the number of iterative cycles required to align experimental results with design performance requirements. Here, we develop and validate the first detailed mechanistic model of DNA recombination, with a focus on how efficiently recombination can occur, and the model features required to replicate and predict experimental data.