Wednesday, November 30, 2011



A current problem in biomolecular computing has to do with the varying copy numbers of gene products and plasmid stability. The Ying et al paper included here offers an alternate approach. Instead, they propose to integrate the circuitry into the genome itself. This approach confers stability to the circuitry so it can be reliably propagated during cell division, and gives a predictable number of gene products depending on the number of integrated parts in the genome. The authors accomplish this by encoding the entire synthetic network on a plasmid, PCR amplifying it, and then purifying it and transforming it into the competent E. coli cell by electroporation. As the author reports, this refined method leads to reduced leaky expression and predictable copy number. The ultimate goal, an incorporated toggle switch, performs well with distinct outputs and reduced noise.

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