Dataset Information

Effects of downstream genes on synthetic genetic circuits.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In order to understand and regulate complex genetic networks in living cells, it is important to build simple and well-defined genetic circuits. We designed such circuits using a synthetic biology approach that included mathematical modeling and simulation, with a focus on the effects by which downstream reporter genes are involved in the regulation of synthetic genetic circuits.

Results

Our results indicated that downstream genes exert two main effects on genes involved in the regulation of synthetic genetic circuits: (1) competition for regulatory proteins and (2) protein degradation in the cell.

Conclusions

Our findings regarding the effects of downstream genes on regulatory genes and the role of impedance in driving large-scale and complex genetic circuits may facilitate the design of more accurate genetic circuits. This design will have wide applications in future studies of systems and synthetic biology.

SUBMITTER: Moriya T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4290693 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Effects of downstream genes on synthetic genetic circuits.

Moriya Takefumi T Yamamura Masayuki M Kiga Daisuke D

BMC systems biology 20141208

<h4>Background</h4>In order to understand and regulate complex genetic networks in living cells, it is important to build simple and well-defined genetic circuits. We designed such circuits using a synthetic biology approach that included mathematical modeling and simulation, with a focus on the effects by which downstream reporter genes are involved in the regulation of synthetic genetic circuits.<h4>Results</h4>Our results indicated that downstream genes exert two main effects on genes involve ...[more]

PMID: 25521010

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Project description:For practical construction of complex synthetic genetic networks able to perform elaborate functions it is important to have a pool of relatively simple modules with different functionality which can be compounded together. To complement engineering of very different existing synthetic genetic devices such as switches, oscillators or logical gates, we propose and develop here a design of synthetic multi-input classifier based on a recently introduced distributed classifier concept. A heterogeneous population of cells acts as a single classifier, whose output is obtained by summarizing the outputs of individual cells. The learning ability is achieved by pruning the population, instead of tuning parameters of an individual cell. The present paper is focused on evaluating two possible schemes of multi-input gene classifier circuits. We demonstrate their suitability for implementing a multi-input distributed classifier capable of separating data which are inseparable for single-input classifiers, and characterize performance of the classifiers by analytical and numerical results. The simpler scheme implements a linear classifier in a single cell and is targeted at separable classification problems with simple class borders. A hard learning strategy is used to train a distributed classifier by removing from the population any cell answering incorrectly to at least one training example. The other scheme implements a circuit with a bell-shaped response in a single cell to allow potentially arbitrary shape of the classification border in the input space of a distributed classifier. Inseparable classification problems are addressed using soft learning strategy, characterized by probabilistic decision to keep or discard a cell at each training iteration. We expect that our classifier design contributes to the development of robust and predictable synthetic biosensors, which have the potential to affect applications in a lot of fields, including that of medicine and industry.

Project description:Intracellular spatial heterogeneity is frequently observed in bacteria, where the chromosome occupies part of the cell's volume and a circuit's DNA often localizes within the cell. How this heterogeneity affects core processes and genetic circuits is still poorly understood. In fact, commonly used ordinary differential equation (ODE) models of genetic circuits assume a well-mixed ensemble of molecules and, as such, do not capture spatial aspects. Reaction-diffusion partial differential equation (PDE) models have been only occasionally used since they are difficult to integrate and do not provide mechanistic understanding of the effects of spatial heterogeneity. In this paper, we derive a reduced ODE model that captures spatial effects, yet has the same dimension as commonly used well-mixed models. In particular, the only difference with respect to a well-mixed ODE model is that the association rate constant of binding reactions is multiplied by a coefficient, which we refer to as the binding correction factor (BCF). The BCF depends on the size of interacting molecules and on their location when fixed in space and it is equal to unity in a well-mixed ODE model. The BCF can be used to investigate how spatial heterogeneity affects the behavior of core processes and genetic circuits. Specifically, our reduced model indicates that transcription and its regulation are more effective for genes located at the cell poles than for genes located on the chromosome. The extent of these effects depends on the value of the BCF, which we found to be close to unity. For translation, the value of the BCF is always greater than unity, it increases with mRNA size, and, with biologically relevant parameters, is substantially larger than unity. Our model has broad validity, has the same dimension as a well-mixed model, yet it incorporates spatial heterogeneity. This simple-to-use model can be used to both analyze and design genetic circuits while accounting for spatial intracellular effects.

Dataset Information

Effects of downstream genes on synthetic genetic circuits.

Background

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Effects of downstream genes on synthetic genetic circuits.

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