Toggle Main Menu Toggle Search

Open Access padlockePrints

Contextual dependencies expand the re-usability of genetic inverters

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Lewis Grozinger, Ruud Stoof, Dr Angel Goni-Moreno

Downloads


Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

© 2021, The Author(s).The implementation of Boolean logic circuits in cells have become a very active field within synthetic biology. Although these are mostly focussed on the genetic components alone, the context in which the circuit performs is crucial for its outcome. We characterise 20 genetic NOT logic gates in up to 7 bacterial-based contexts each, to generate 135 different functions. The contexts we focus on are combinations of four plasmid backbones and three hosts, two Escherichia coli and one Pseudomonas putida strains. Each gate shows seven different dynamic behaviours, depending on the context. That is, gates can be fine-tuned by changing only contextual parameters, thus improving the compatibility between gates. Finally, we analyse portability by measuring, scoring, and comparing gate performance across contexts. Rather than being a limitation, we argue that the effect of the genetic background on synthetic constructs expands functionality, and advocate for considering context as a fundamental design parameter.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Tas H, Grozinger L, Stoof R, de Lorenzo V, Goni-Moreno A

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Nature Communications

Year: 2021

Volume: 12

Issue: 1

Online publication date: 13/01/2021

Acceptance date: 02/12/2020

Date deposited: 25/08/2023

ISSN (electronic): 2041-1723

Publisher: Nature Research

URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20656-5

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20656-5

Data Access Statement: Availability of data, genetic material and supporting software. The flow cytometry data used for analysis in this study is available as a figshare repository at https://data.ncl.ac.uk/ndownloader/articles/12073479/versions/1. This SBOL files for the genetic constructs used in the study are available at https://github.com/lgrozinger/pyolin/tree/master/results/sbol. The constructs themselves are retained at SEVA bank (http://seva-plasmids.com) at CNB-CSIC, Madrid, Spain and ready for distribution for research purposes. Code availability The Python package used to perform all the analysis presented, the preprocessing of the raw cytometry data, and to generate the figures shown here, is made available at https://github.com/lgrozinger/pyolin.


Altmetrics

Altmetrics provided by Altmetric


Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
2019-T1/BIO-14053
Agencia Estatal de Investigación
BioRoboost
Comunidad de Madrid
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
EP/R019002/1EPSRC
European Structural and Investment Funds
European Union
H2020-NMBP-BIO-CSA-2018/ 820699
InGEMICS-CM
FSE, FECER
H2020-FET-OPEN-RIA-2017-1-766975
H2020-Grant 870294
H2020-NMBP/0500
MINECO/FEDER
MADONNA
MIX-UP
PCI2019-111859-2 ERA-COBIOTECH 2018
S2017/BMD-3691
Severo Ochoa Program for Centres of Excellence in R&D
RTI2018-095584-B-C42
SETH
SEV-2016-0672
SYCOLIM
SynBio3D
SYNBIO4FLAV
Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation

Share