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  • Synthetic Biology and Assembly Cloning  (5)
  • Oxford University Press  (5)
  • 2015-2019  (5)
  • 2005-2009
  • 1
    Publication Date: 2016-08-20
    Description: Light-regulated modules offer unprecedented new ways to control cellular behavior in precise spatial and temporal resolution. The availability of such tools may dramatically accelerate the progression of synthetic biology applications. Nonetheless, current optogenetic toolbox of prokaryotes has potential issues such as lack of rapid and switchable control, less portable, low dynamic expression and limited parts. To address these shortcomings, we have engineered a novel bidirectional promoter system for Escherichia coli that can be induced or repressed rapidly and reversibly using the blue light dependent DNA-binding protein EL222. We demonstrated that by modulating the dosage of light pulses or intensity we could control the level of gene expression precisely. We show that both light-inducible and repressible system can function in parallel with high spatial precision in a single cell and can be switched stably between ON- and OFF-states by repetitive pulses of blue light. In addition, the light-inducible and repressible expression kinetics were quantitatively analysed using a mathematical model. We further apply the system, for the first time, to optogenetically synchronize two receiver cells performing different logic behaviors over time using blue light as a molecular clock signal. Overall, our modular approach layers a transformative platform for next-generation light-controllable synthetic biology systems in prokaryotes.
    Keywords: Synthetic Biology and Assembly Cloning
    Print ISSN: 0305-1048
    Electronic ISSN: 1362-4962
    Topics: Biology
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2015-10-15
    Description: Natural regulatory networks contain many interacting components that allow for fine-tuning of switching and memory properties. Building simple bistable switches, synthetic biologists have learned the design principles of complex natural regulatory networks. However, most switches constructed so far are so simple (e.g. comprising two regulators) that they are functional only within a limited parameter range. Here, we report the construction of robust, tunable bistable switches in Escherichia coli using three heterologous protein regulators (ExsADC) that are sequestered into an inactive complex through a partner swapping mechanism. On the basis of mathematical modeling, we accurately predict and experimentally verify that the hysteretic region can be fine-tuned by controlling the interactions of the ExsADC regulatory cascade using the third member ExsC as a tuning knob. Additionally, we confirm that a dual-positive feedback switch can markedly increase the hysteretic region, compared to its single-positive feedback counterpart. The dual-positive feedback switch displays bistability over a 10 6 -fold range of inducer concentrations, to our knowledge, the largest range reported so far. This work demonstrates the successful interlocking of sequestration-based ultrasensitivity and positive feedback, a design principle that can be applied to the construction of robust, tunable, and predictable genetic programs to achieve increasingly sophisticated biological behaviors.
    Keywords: Synthetic Biology and Assembly Cloning
    Print ISSN: 0305-1048
    Electronic ISSN: 1362-4962
    Topics: Biology
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  • 3
    Publication Date: 2016-06-03
    Description: We have investigated transcriptional interference between convergent genes in E. coli and demonstrate substantial interference for inter-promoter distances of as far as 3 kb. Interference can be elicited by both strong 70 dependent and T7 promoters. In the presented design, a strong promoter driving gene expression of a ‘forward’ gene interferes with the expression of a ‘reverse’ gene by a weak promoter. This arrangement allows inversely correlated gene expression without requiring further regulatory components. Thus, modulation of the activity of the strong promoter alters expression of both the forward and the reverse gene. We used this design to develop a dual selection system for conditional operator site binding, allowing positive selection both for binding and for non-binding to DNA. This study demonstrates the utility of this novel system using the Lac repressor as a model protein for conditional DNA binding, and spectinomycin and chloramphenicol resistance genes as positive selection markers in liquid culture. Randomized LacI libraries were created and subjected to subsequent dual selection, but mispairing IPTG and selection cues in respect to the wild-type LacI response, allowing the isolation of a LacI variant with a reversed IPTG response within three rounds of library generation and dual selection.
    Keywords: Synthetic Biology and Assembly Cloning
    Print ISSN: 0305-1048
    Electronic ISSN: 1362-4962
    Topics: Biology
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  • 4
    Publication Date: 2016-10-08
    Description: A whole-cell biosensor utilizing a transcription factor (TF) is an effective tool for sensitive and selective detection of specialty chemicals or anthropogenic molecules, but requires access to an expanded repertoire of TFs. Using homology modeling and ligand docking for binding pocket identification, assisted by conservative mutations in the pocket, we engineered a novel specificity in an Acinetobacter TF, PobR, to ‘sense’ a chemical p-nitrophenol (pNP) and measured the response via a fluorescent protein reporter expressed from a PobR promoter. Out of 10 7 variants of PobR, four were active when dosed with pNP, with two mutants showing a specificity switch from the native effector 4-hydroxybenzoate (4HB). One of the mutants, pNPmut1 was then used to create a smart microbial cell responding to pNP production from hydrolysis of an insecticide, paraoxon, in a coupled assay involving phosphotriesterase (PTE) enzyme expressed from a separate promoter. We show the fluorescence of the cells correlated with the catalytic efficiency of the PTE variant expressed in each cell. High selectivity between similar molecules (4HB versus pNP), high sensitivity for pNP detection (~2 μM) and agreement of apo- and holo-structures of PobR scaffold with predetermined computational models are other significant results presented in this work.
    Keywords: Synthetic Biology and Assembly Cloning
    Print ISSN: 0305-1048
    Electronic ISSN: 1362-4962
    Topics: Biology
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  • 5
    Publication Date: 2016-10-08
    Description: Advances in synthetic biology and our understanding of the rules of promoter architecture have led to the development of diverse synthetic constitutive and inducible promoters in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. However, the design of promoters inducible by specific endogenous or environmental conditions is still rarely undertaken. In this study, we engineered and characterized a set of strong, synthetic promoters for budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that are inducible under acidic conditions (pH ≤ 3). Using available expression and transcription factor binding data, literature on transcriptional regulation, and known rules of promoter architecture we improved the low-pH performance of the YGP1 promoter by modifying transcription factor binding sites in its upstream activation sequence. The engineering strategy outlined for the YGP1 promoter was subsequently applied to create a response to low pH in the unrelated CCW14 promoter. We applied our best promoter variants to low-pH fermentations, enabling ten-fold increased production of lactic acid compared to titres obtained with the commonly used, native TEF1 promoter. Our findings outline and validate a general strategy to iteratively design and engineer synthetic yeast promoters inducible to environmental conditions or stresses of interest.
    Keywords: Synthetic Biology and Assembly Cloning
    Print ISSN: 0305-1048
    Electronic ISSN: 1362-4962
    Topics: Biology
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