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Significant research progress in synthetic biology
Mingzhu DING, Bingzhi LI, Ying WANG, Zexiong XIE, Duo LIU, Yingjin YUAN
Synthetic Biology Journal    2020, 1 (1): 7-28.   DOI: 10.12211/2096-8280.2020-057
Abstract   (7887 HTML1433 PDF(pc) (3953KB)(9473)  

As an emerging, interdisciplinary field, synthetic biology has made great advances in many directions due to wide acceptance of its core principles and rapid progress in DNA synthesis. In this paper, recent development in gene circuits, genome design and synthesis, cell factories, and synthetic microbial consortia is reviewed. The complexity of artificial gene circuits that can be designed and constructed is gradually increasing with more refined control. Synthetic genomes are routinely assembled, expanding from prokaryotes (Mycoplasma to Escherichia coli) to eukaryotes (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), and improved capacity in genome design promotes the research of biological evolution. Metabolic pathways of ever-increasing lengths are constructed based on modularization and orthogonality principles to produce molecules of complex structures, and fundamental rewiring of cellular metabolism is performed for enhanced robustness and compatibility. The design and construction of synthetic microbial consortia have been expanded from two-species systems to multi-species systems, so that more sophisticated functions can be achieved. At the end of this paper, new research directions resulted from the interdisciplinary integration of synthetic biology and other disciplines are discussed.


Fig. 1 Components of gene circuits
Extracts from the Article
基因回路是由调控元件和被调控的基因构成的特定逻辑关系,以实现所设计的预期功能。“双稳态开关”(Toggle switch)基因回路及“自激振荡网络”(Oscillatory network)基因回路的研究开启了这一合成生物学基础研究分支[3,4]。基因回路往往借鉴电器回路的逻辑控制概念,与底盘细胞基因网络形成一定程度的正交关系,其未来的一个重要发展方向是构建“生物计算机”的“编程与控制”系统。基因回路的要素有:标准化的基因元件库、多基因之间的调控逻辑、调谐与降噪等回路整体的维护,最终实现由简单到复杂的目标功能(图1)。由基因回路组装更大规模的网络时,对模块化封装提出需求。此外,当搭载基因回路的个体细胞以群体形式执行功能时,也需要细胞间能够通讯、互作、分工。
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