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SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY

Protein circuits reprogram cells

Nature Chemical Biology volume 15, pages 96–97 (2019)Cite this article

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Two protein circuit systems, split-protease-cleavable orthogonal coiled-coil logic (SPOC logic) and circuits of hacked orthogonal modular proteases (CHOMP), have been developed to permit rapid and logic function-based control of mammalian cellular signaling.

Synthetic biology involves the engineering of logic circuits at transcriptional, translational, or post-translational levels1 and has allowed the development of synthetic and user-defined tissues as well as the detection and remedy of diseases2. Circuits at protein levels are generally used to control signal transduction in cells. Two recent papers, Fink et al. in this issue3 and Gao et al.4, have engineered protein circuits using split proteases and protein–protein interactions for the regulation of signaling actions and cellular functions.

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Fig. 1: Engineering protein circuit networks for cellular programming.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioengineering, Institute of Engineering in Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Yiqian Wu & Yingxiao Wang

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  1. Yiqian Wu
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  2. Yingxiao Wang
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Correspondence to Yingxiao Wang.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Wu, Y., Wang, Y. Protein circuits reprogram cells. Nat Chem Biol 15, 96–97 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-018-0210-5

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