The Bacterial Nanorecorder: Engineering E. coli to Function as a Chemical Recording Device.

Synthetic genetic circuits are of great interest in synthetic biology research. These circuits have been employed for a variety of functions from memory devices to sensing cancer cells towards their death or disablement. Using the tools of synthetic biology Bhomkar et al. were able to create a novel E. coli strain that can be used as a highly specific, simple and inexpensive chemical recording device. This device allows for the determination of when and what chemical the strain has been exposed to. Upon exposure to a signal molecule, it generates a quantifiable phenotypic response allowing for estimation of the time of the signal exposure.

Creation of New Metabolic Pathways or Improvement of Existing Metabolic Enzymes by In Vivo Evolution in Escherichia coli

This paper sequentially details how to design and construct a recombinant E. coli to create new metabolic pathways of new enzymes using in vivo evolution. It is based on the principles of in vivo directed evolution and rational design of a microorganism. This is achieved by placing an organism in a novel environment. Only a few mutations were observed under the metabolic pressure and the main mutations were found to occur in the coding or promoter region.