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Updated: Mar 17, 2026

Mapping Bacterial Functional Networks and Pathways in Escherichia Coli using Synthetic Genetic Arrays
Published on: November 12, 2012
Unknown unknowns: essential genes in quest for function
1Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition, CHU Pitié-Salpêtrière, 47 boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013, Paris, France.
Abstract:
The experimental design of a minimal synthetic genome revealed the presence of a large number of genes without ascribed function, in part because the abstract laws of life must be implemented within ad hoc material contraptions. Creating a function needs recruitment of some pre-existing structure and this reveals kludges in their set-up and history. Here, we show that looking for functions as an engineer would help in discovery of a significant number of those, proposed together with conceptual handles allowing investigators to pursue this endeavour in other contexts.
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