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Mapping Bacterial Functional Networks and Pathways in Escherichia Coli using Synthetic Genetic Arrays
Published on: November 12, 2012
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Engineering intercellular communication using M13 phagemid and CRISPR-based gene regulation for multicellular
Hadiastri Kusumawardhani1, Florian Zoppi2, Roberto Avendaño2
1Department of Fundamental Microbiology, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. hadiastri.kusumawardhani@unil.ch.
Nature Communications
|April 15, 2025
Summary
Researchers developed new synthetic biology tools for bacterial communication, enabling multicellular computing. This system uses phagemid-mediated transfer of CRISPR guide RNAs for sensitive, programmable logic gates in engineered E. coli consortia.
Area of Science:
- Synthetic biology
- Microbial consortia engineering
- Biocomputing systems
Background:
- Multicellular consortia enable distributed information processing for biocomputing.
- Establishing orthogonal intercellular communication is a key challenge in synthetic consortia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel method for orthogonal intercellular communication in synthetic bacterial consortia.
- To enable multicellular computing by integrating phagemid-based communication with CRISPR gene regulation.
Main Methods:
- Engineered M13 phagemids to transfer single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) from sender to receiver E. coli cells.
- Utilized CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) in receiver cells for gene regulation based on transferred sgRNAs.
- Constructed and validated one-, two-, and four-input logic gates.
Main Results:
- Achieved highly sensitive intercellular communication by regulating sgRNA transfer.
- Successfully implemented synthetic logic gates within engineered E. coli consortia.
- Demonstrated the feasibility of complex information processing in microbial systems.
Conclusions:
- The developed system expands the toolkit for intercellular communication in synthetic biology.
- This approach enables sophisticated information processing in microbial consortia.
- Potential applications include advanced biocomputing, biosensing, and biomanufacturing.
