Genetic circuit engineering

Mycoplasmas are minimal cell model organisms but lack genetic tools. Here the authors provide a robust genetic toolkit for Mycoplasma demonstrating gene circuit engineering applications.

Phosphorylation networks are frequently at the heart of complex cellular decision making. Here the authors engineer synthetic phosphorylation devices with feedback regulation in mammalian cells and demonstrate how to use these to achieve tunable and robust control of cell behaviours.

Zhang et al. create an oscillator circuit that can be orthogonally controlled by two inducers in Escherichia coli and by systematically tuning the concentration of the inducers, the amplitude and period can be modulated independently. This design allows the oscillator to be modularized and used in more complex circuit designs, which can be a valuable contribution to the Synthetic Biology field.

Gene expression noise can reduce fitness but analysis is hampered by a scaling relationship between noise and expression level. Here the authors show that gene expression mean and noise can be independently controlled by expressing two copies of a gene from separate inducible promoters in the same cell.

Biological systems are known to behave in optimal ways when poised close to critical points, right on the edge between order and disorder. Here the authors show how this state can be engineered in living cells.