Reverse Engineering in Biotechnology: The Role of Genetic Engineering in Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology is built on genetic engineering and principles of design engineering, which provides control over the biological functions of interest. This chapter explores the uses, processes, and applications of genetic engineering in synthetic biology. The chapter provides a brief history and course of development of the field of synthetic biology and genetic engineering and their unbreakable association. Next, the chapter delves into materials and methods and the applications of synthetic biology. This includes discussing the generally used components of genetic engineering to design new functions into organisms and even the general steps that are part of any synthetic biology experiment. Lastly, the chapter also explains the use of the materials and methodology discussed in solving a specific problem related to a model mentioned in the paper titled "Development of Integrase-mediated differentiation circuits to improve evolutionary stability in E. coli." It explains how by using genetic engineering a synthetic biology-related problem was solved efficiently.