Access

Research Highlights

Nature Reviews Genetics 10, 348 (1 June 2009) | doi:10.1038/nrg2602

Synthetic biology: Towards off-the-shelf networks

Tanita Casci

Synthetic biologists dream of constructing gene expression networks with predictable functions. However, they come up against a frustrating problem: because the assembly parts (ORFs and control regions) are poorly characterized and limited in number, each new circuit has to be painstakingly tweaked until it behaves as intended.