WEB FOCUS
Synthetic systems biology
In this focus
Synthetic biology goes beyond classic genetic engineering as it attempts to engineer living systems to perform new functions not found in nature. Ten years ago this week, Nature published a pair of seminal papers that stimulated 'systems biology' thinking in the field. This web focus gathers these two papers together with papers more recently published by Nature in the same spirit.
Image: Tal Danino, Octavio Mondragón-Palomino, Lev Tsimring & Jeff Hasty
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Editorial
Editorial
Ten years of synergy Free access
Nature 463, 269–270 (21 January 2010) doi:10.1038/463269b
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News
News Feature
Bioengineering: Five hard truths for synthetic biology
Nature 463, 288–290 (21 January 2010) doi:10.1038/463288a
News
Bacterial clocks chime in unison
Nature News (20 January 2010) doi:10.1038/news.2010.21
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Current Research
Article
A synchronized quorum of genetic clocks
Tal Danino, Octavio Mondragón-Palomino, Lev Tsimring & Jeff Hasty
Nature 463, 326–330 (21 January 2010) doi:10.1038/nature08753
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News and Views
Synthetic biology: Synchronized bacterial clocks
Martin Fussenegger
Nature 463, 301–302 (21 January 2010) doi:10.1038/463301a
Letter
Spatiotemporal control of cell signalling using a light-switchable protein interaction
Anselm Levskaya, Orion D. Weiner, Wendell A. Lim & Christopher A. Voigt
Nature 461, 997–1001 (15 October 2009) doi:10.1038/nature08446
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Letter
Programming cells by multiplex genome engineering and accelerated evolution
Harris H. Wang et al.
Nature 460, 894–898 (13 August 2009) doi:10.1038/nature08187
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Letter
A tunable synthetic mammalian oscillator
Marcel Tigges, Tatiana T. Marquez-Lago, Jörg Stelling & Martin Fussenegger
Nature 457, 309–312 (15 January 2009) doi:10.1038/nature07616
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News and Views
Synthetic biology: The yin and yang of nature
Jeff Gore & Alexander van Oudenaarden
Nature 457, 271–272 (15 January 2009) doi:10.1038/457271a
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Archive
Letter
A fast, robust and tunable synthetic gene oscillator
Jesse Stricker et al.
Nature 456, 516–519 (27 November 2008) doi:10.1038/nature07389
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Article
Evolvability and hierarchy in rewired bacterial gene networks
Mark Isalan et al.
Nature 452, 840–845 (17 April 2008) doi:10.1038/nature06847
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News and Views
Systems biology: Genome rewired
Matthew R. Bennett & Jeff Hasty
Nature 452, 824–825 (17 April 2008) doi:10.1038/452824a
Letter
Non-fermentative pathways for synthesis of branched-chain higher alcohols as biofuels
Shota Atsumi, Taizo Hanai & James C. Liao
Nature 451, 86–89 (3 January 2008) doi:10.1038/nature06450
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Letter
Rewiring cellular morphology pathways with synthetic guanine nucleotide exchange factors
Brian J. Yeh, Robert J. Rutigliano, Anrica Deb, Dafna Bar-Sagi & Wendell A. Lim
Nature 447, 596–600 (31 May 2007) doi:10.1038/nature05851
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Letter
A bottom-up approach to gene regulation
Nicholas J. Guido et al.
Nature 439, 856–860 (16 February 2006) doi:10.1038/nature04473
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Letter
Production of the antimalarial drug precursor artemisinic acid in engineered yeast
Dae-Kyun Ro et al.
Nature 440, 940–943 (13 April 2006) doi:10.1038/nature04640
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Letter
A synthetic multicellular system for programmed pattern formation
Subhayu Basu, Yoram Gerchman, Cynthia H. Collins, Frances H. Arnold & Ron Weiss
Nature 434, 1130–1134 (28 April 2005) doi:10.1038/nature03461
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Letter
A synthetic gene-metabolic oscillator
Eileen Fung et al.
Nature 435, 118–122 (5 May 2005) doi:10.1038/nature03508
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Brief Communication
Synthetic biology: Engineering Escherichia coli to see light
Anselm Levskaya et al.
Nature 438, 441–442 (24 November 2005) doi:10.1038/nature04405
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Letter
Programmed population control by cell—cell communication and regulated killing
Lingchong You, Robert Sidney Cox III, Ron Weiss & Frances H. Arnold
Nature 428, 868–871 (22 April 2004) doi:10.1038/nature02491
Letter
Construction of a genetic toggle switch in Escherichia coli
Timothy S. Gardner, Charles R. Cantor & James J. Collins
Nature 403, 339–342 (20 January 2000) doi:10.1038/35002131
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Letter
A synthetic oscillatory network of transcriptional regulators
Michael B. Elowitz & Stanislas Leibler
Nature 403, 335–338 (20 January 2000) doi:10.1038/35002125
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Podcast
Nature biology editor Tanguy Chouard joins us on the Nature Podcast to discuss toggle switches, flashing colonies of bacteria and the challenges ahead for synthetic biology.
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Video
By synchronising our clocks, we can coordinate our activities with people around the world. Now, scientists have engineered bacteria to synchronise their molecular timekeepers, creating the stunning fluorescent flashes you see in this video.
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