Biology by Design: from Top to Bottom and Back

Overview

Journal J Biomed Biotechnol

Specialty Biology

Date 2010 Nov 6

PMID 21052559

Citations 6

Authors

Brian R Fritz

Laura E Timmerman

Nichole M Daringer

Joshua N Leonard

Michael C Jewett

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Synthetic biology is a nascent technical discipline that seeks to enable the design and construction of novel biological systems to meet pressing societal needs. However, engineering biology still requires much trial and error because we lack effective approaches for connecting basic "parts" into higher-order networks that behave as predicted. Developing strategies for improving the performance and sophistication of our designs is informed by two overarching perspectives: "bottom-up" and "top-down" considerations. Using this framework, we describe a conceptual model for developing novel biological systems that function and interact with existing biological components in a predictable fashion. We discuss this model in the context of three topical areas: biochemical transformations, cellular devices and therapeutics, and approaches that expand the chemistry of life. Ten years after the construction of synthetic biology's first devices, the drive to look beyond what does exist to what can exist is ushering in an era of biology by design.

Citing Articles

Synthetic chromosomes, genomes, viruses, and cells.

Venter J, Glass J, Hutchison 3rd C, Vashee S Cell. 2022; 185(15):2708-2724.

PMID: 35868275 PMC: 9347161. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.06.046.

Switchable Control of Scaffold Protein Activity via Engineered Phosphoregulated Autoinhibition.

Hazegh Nikroo A, Lemmens L, Wezeman T, Ottmann C, Merkx M, Brunsveld L ACS Synth Biol. 2022; 11(7):2464-2472.

PMID: 35765959 PMC: 9295147. DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.2c00122.

Beyond the bulk: disclosing the life of single microbial cells.

Rosenthal K, Oehling V, Dusny C, Schmid A FEMS Microbiol Rev. 2017; 41(6):751-780.

PMID: 29029257 PMC: 5812503. DOI: 10.1093/femsre/fux044.

Spatial and functional heterogeneities shape collective behavior of tumor-immune networks.

Wells D, Chuang Y, Knapp L, Brockmann D, Kath W, Leonard J PLoS Comput Biol. 2015; 11(4):e1004181.

PMID: 25905470 PMC: 4408028. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004181.

Cell-free biology: exploiting the interface between synthetic biology and synthetic chemistry.

Harris D, Jewett M Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2012; 23(5):672-8.

PMID: 22483202 PMC: 4038125. DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2012.02.002.

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