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The evolution of synthetic receptor systems
Janvie Manhas1,2, Hailey I Edelstein3, Joshua N Leonard4,5,6,7,8
1Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Nature Chemical Biology
|January 21, 2022
Summary
Synthetic biologists engineer synthetic receptors for customized cellular functions. A new metric-enabled approach for synthetic receptor engineering (MEASRE) strategy is proposed to improve these systems.
Area of Science:
- Synthetic biology
- Molecular engineering
- Cellular engineering
Background:
- Receptors are crucial for cells to sense and respond to environmental cues.
- Synthetic biologists have engineered synthetic receptors by repurposing natural receptor components.
- These engineered receptors enable customized sense-and-respond programs within cells.
Purpose of the Study:
- To survey the current mammalian synthetic biology toolkit for protein-based receptors and signal-processing components.
- To highlight advancements in evolving and integrating foundational synthetic receptor systems.
- To propose a generalized strategy for engineering and improving synthetic receptor systems.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on mammalian synthetic biology tools.
- Analysis of efforts to evolve and integrate synthetic receptor systems.
- Development of the metric-enabled approach for synthetic receptor engineering (MEASRE) strategy.
Main Results:
- A substantial evolution in the library and capabilities of synthetic receptors has been observed.
- Foundational synthetic receptor systems have been highlighted for their evolution and integration.
- The proposed MEASRE strategy offers a generalized approach for receptor system improvement.
Conclusions:
- Synthetic receptors are powerful tools for programming sophisticated cellular functions.
- The MEASRE strategy provides a framework for systematic engineering and improvement of synthetic receptor systems.
- Continued evolution of synthetic receptors promises enhanced capabilities for cellular engineering.
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