Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/80944
Title: Layering genetic circuits to build a single cell, bacterial half adder
Authors: Wong, Adison
Wang, Huijuan
Poh, Chueh Loo
Kitney, Richard I.
Issue Date: 2015
Source: Wong, A., Wang, H., Poh, C. L., & Kitney, R. I. (2015). Layering genetic circuits to build a single cell, bacterial half adder. BMC Biology, 13(40).
Series/Report no.: BMC Biology
Abstract: Background: Gene regulation in biological systems is impacted by the cellular and genetic context-dependent effects of the biological parts which comprise the circuit. Here, we have sought to elucidate the limitations of engineering biology from an architectural point of view, with the aim of compiling a set of engineering solutions for overcoming failure modes during the development of complex, synthetic genetic circuits. Results: Using a synthetic biology approach that is supported by computational modelling and rigorous characterisation, AND, OR and NOT biological logic gates were layered in both parallel and serial arrangements to generate a repertoire of Boolean operations that include NIMPLY, XOR, half adder and half subtractor logics in a single cell. Subsequent evaluation of these near-digital biological systems revealed critical design pitfalls that triggered genetic context-dependent effects, including 5′ UTR interferences and uncontrolled switch-on behaviour of the supercoiled σ54 promoter. In particular, the presence of seven consecutive hairpins immediately downstream of the promoter transcription start site severely impeded gene expression. Conclusions: As synthetic biology moves forward with greater focus on scaling the complexity of engineered genetic circuits, studies which thoroughly evaluate failure modes and engineering solutions will serve as important references for future design and development of synthetic biological systems. This work describes a representative case study for the debugging of genetic context-dependent effects through principles elucidated herein, thereby providing a rational design framework to integrate multiple genetic circuits in a single prokaryotic cell.
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/80944
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/38986
ISSN: 1741-7007
DOI: 10.1186/s12915-015-0146-0
Schools: School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 
Rights: © 2015 Wong et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Fulltext Permission: open
Fulltext Availability: With Fulltext
Appears in Collections:SCBE Journal Articles

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