Phys.org April 5, 2023 Carboxysomes are proteinaceous bacterial microcompartments that sequester the key enzymes for carbon fixation in cyanobacteria and some proteobacteria. Despite their significance in carbon fixation and great bioengineering potentials, the structural understanding of native carboxysomes is currently limited to low-resolution studies. An international team of researchers (UK, Germany, Austria) has characterized a native α-carboxysome from a marine cyanobacterium by single-particle cryoelectron microscopy. They have determined the structure of its RuBisCO enzyme, and obtained low-resolution maps of its icosahedral shell, and its concentric interior organization. They proposed a complete atomic model of an intact carboxysome, providing insight into […]
Tag Archives: Synthetic biology
Synthetic biology circuits can respond within seconds
MIT News July 1, 2021 A team of researchers in the US (MIT, research org, University of Wisconsin, Penn State College) created a bistable toggle switch in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a cross-repression topology comprising 11 protein-protein phosphorylation elements. The toggle is ultrasensitive, can be induced to switch states in seconds, and exhibits long-term bistability. They developed a computational framework to search endogenous protein pathways for other large and similar bistable networks. The framework helped them to identify and experimentally verify five formerly unreported endogenous networks that exhibit bistability. Building synthetic protein-protein networks will enable bioengineers to design fast sensing and […]
Synthetic biologists developing a new class of high-performance materials
Science Daily November 18, 2019 A team of researchers in the US (Northwestern University, University of Illinois, Stanford University, UT Austin, industry) developed a set of design rules to guide how ribosomes, a cell structure that makes protein, can incorporate new kinds of monomers, which can be bonded with identical molecules to form polymers. The rules guide how ribosomes, a cell structure that makes protein, can incorporate new kinds of monomers, which can be bonded with identical molecules to form polymers. These findings are an exciting step forward to achieving sequence-defined synthetic polymers. The ability to harness and adapt cellular […]
Bridging the Gap Between Electronics and Biology
IEEE Spectrum September 25, 2018 Scientists have struggled to navigate the technology gap between microelectronics and the biological world. By engineering cells with synthetic biology components, a team of researchers in the US (University of Maryland, University of Nebraska, Army Research Laboratory) has experimentally demonstrated a proof-of-concept device enabling robust and reliable information exchanges between electrical and biological (molecular) domains. They are working to develop a novel biological memory device that can be written to and read from via either biological and/or electronic means. Such a device would function like a thumb drive or SD card, using molecular signals to […]
Breakthrough could see bacteria used as cell factories to produce biofuels
Science Daily August 29, 2018 Bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) have huge potential in biotechnology. However, a key obstacle to their utilisation is the difficulty of targeting new pathways and processes into the BMC in a controllable fashion. Researchers in the UK redesigned a key surface component of the BMC that enables them to not only internalise proteins within the BMC but also display them on the surface of the organelle. This breakthrough could open the possibility of utilising these organelles for a wide variety of applications, including the generation of biofuels, as well as for drug delivery and vaccine development and […]
Synthetic gene circuits for the detection, elimination and prevention of disease
Nature Biomedical Engineering June 11, 2018 In living organisms, naturally evolved sensors that constantly monitor and process environmental cues trigger corrective actions that enable the organisms to cope with changing conditions. This has inspired the biologists to construct synthetic living sensors and signaling pathways, by repurposing naturally occurring proteins and by designing molecular building blocks de novo, for customized diagnostics and therapeutics. In this Review, an international team of researchers (Switzerland, France) describe the biomedical applications of synthetic gene circuits in major disease areas and discuss how the first genetically engineered devices developed based on synthetic-biology principles made the leap from […]
Synthesis of Horsepox Virus: Implications for Biosecurity and Recommendations for Preventing the Reemergence of Smallpox
Health Security Sept/Oct 2017 According to the researchers at George Mason University, it is now incumbent upon the public health and biodefense communities to take further steps to prepare for and defend against an outbreak of this dreaded disease. In addition, considering the potential for a synthesized smallpox virus to be more virulent or resistant to medical countermeasures than naturally occurring strains, research and development is needed to develop capabilities to detect genetic modifications in pox viruses, microbial forensic techniques applicable to synthetic viruses, and platforms… read more.
Teaching life a new trick: Bacteria make boron-carbon bonds
Source: Eurekalert, November 29, 2017 Researchers at Caltech used directed evolution method, where enzymes are evolved in a lab to perform desired functions, to coax the bacteria into making boron-containing compounds. They mutated the DNA that encodes the protein and then put the mutated DNA sequences into thousands of bacterial cells. The DNA of successful mutant proteins was then mutated again, and the cycle was repeated until the bacteria making the proteins were highly proficient at assembling the boron-carbon compounds. Their final bacterial creations were up to 400 times more productive than synthetic chemical processes used for the same reaction. […]