̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - synthetic biology

̽��ֱ��lab making food healthier and medicine cheaper

lkm37 — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:05:48 +0000

Dr Nicola Patron is cultivating a new kind of biotechnology, where we can read nature’s blueprints and direct its energy to more potent ends.

New legal tool aims to increase openness, sharing and innovation in global biotechnology

cjb250 — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 18:56:48 +0000

̽��ֱ��OpenMTA is a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) designed to foster a spirit of openness, sharing and innovation in global biotechnology. MTAs provide the legal frameworks within which research organisations lay down terms and conditions for sharing their materials - everything from DNA to plant seeds to patient samples.

Use of the OpenMTA allows redistribution and commercial use of materials, while respecting the rights of creators and promoting safe practice and responsible research. ̽��ֱ��new standardised framework also eases the administrative burden for technology transfer offices, negating the need to negotiate unique terms for individual transfers of widely-used material.

̽��ֱ��OpenMTA launches today with a commentary published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. It provides a new way to openly exchange low level “nuts and bolts” components for biological research and engineering, complementing existing, more restrictive arrangements for material transfer.

̽��ֱ��OpenMTA was developed through a collaboration, led by the San Francisco-based BioBricks Foundation and UK-based OpenPlant Synthetic Biology Research Centre. OpenPlant is a joint initiative between the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, John Innes Centre and the Earlham Institute, which aims to develop open technologies and responsible innovations for industrial biotechnology sustainabile agriculture.

Professor Jim Haseloff, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, UK, said: “ ̽��ֱ��OpenMTA provides a new pathway for open exchange of DNA components - the basic building blocks for new engineering approaches in biology. It is a necessary step towards building a commons [commonly owned resource] that will underpin and democratise access to future biotechnological advances and sustainable industries.”

̽��ֱ��collaboration brought together an international working group comprising researchers, technology transfer professionals, social scientists and legal experts to inform the creation of a legal framework that could improve sharing of biomaterials and increase innovation. ̽��ֱ��team identified five design goals on which to base the new agreement: access, attribution, reuse, redistribution and non-discrimination. Additional design goals included issues of safety and, in particular, the sharing of biomaterials in an international context.

Dr Linda Kahl, Senior Counsel of the BioBricks Foundation, said: “We encourage organisations worldwide to sign the OpenMTA Master Agreement and start using it. In five years’ time my ideal is for the OpenMTA to be the default option for the transfer of research materials within and between academic research institutions and companies.

“Instead of automatically placing restrictions on materials, people will ask whether restrictions on use and redistribution are appropriate and instead use this tool to promote sharing and innovation in a way that does not compromise safety.”

Dr Colette Matthewman, Programme Manager for the OpenPlant Synthetic Biology Research Centre, said: “We hope to see the OpenMTA enable an international flow of non-proprietary tools between academic, government, NGO and industry researchers, to be used, reused and expanded upon to develop new tools and innovations.”

̽��ֱ��agreement will facilitate the use, modification and redistribution of tools for innovation in academic and commercial research, and promote access for researchers in less privileged institutions and world regions.

Dr Fernán Federici, Millennium Institute for Integrative Biology (iBio), Santiago, Chile, said: " ̽��ֱ��OpenMTA will be particularly useful in Latin America, allowing researchers to redistribute materials imported from overseas sources, reducing shipping costs and waiting times for future local users. We are implementing it in an international project that requires sharing genetic tools among labs in four different continents. We believe, the OpenMTA will support projects based on community-sourced resources and distributed repositories that lead to more fluid collaborations."

̽��ֱ��OpenPlant Synthetic Biology Research Centre is funded by the UK Biotechnology and biological Sciences Research Council and the Engineering and Physics Council as part of the UK Synthetic Biology for Growth programme.

Adapted from a press release from the John Innes Centre.

Reference
Kahl, L et al. Opening options for material transfer. Nature Biotechnology; 11 Oct 2018

A new easy-to-use legal tool that enables exchange of biological material between research institutes and companies launches today.

̽��ֱ��OpenMTA provides a new pathway for open exchange of DNA components - the basic building blocks for new engineering approaches in biology

Jim Haseloff

Geralt

DNA

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Report highlights opportunities and risks associated with synthetic biology and bioengineering

cjb250 — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 11:50:43 +0000

Rapid developments in the field of synthetic biology and its associated tools and methods, including more widely available gene editing techniques, have substantially increased our capabilities for bioengineering – the application of principles and techniques from engineering to biological systems, often with the goal of addressing 'real-world' problems.

In a feature article published in the open access journal eLife, an international team of experts led by Dr Bonnie Wintle and Dr Christian R. Boehm from the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, capture perspectives of industry, innovators, scholars, and the security community in the UK and US on what they view as the major emerging issues in the field.

Dr Wintle says: “ ̽��ֱ��growth of the bio-based economy offers the promise of addressing global environmental and societal challenges, but as our paper shows, it can also present new kinds of challenges and risks. ̽��ֱ��sector needs to proceed with caution to ensure we can reap the benefits safely and securely.”

̽��ֱ��report is intended as a summary and launching point for policy makers across a range of sectors to further explore those issues that may be relevant to them.

Among the issues highlighted by the report as being most relevant over the next five years are:

Artificial photosynthesis and carbon capture for producing biofuels

If technical hurdles can be overcome, such developments might contribute to the future adoption of carbon capture systems, and provide sustainable sources of commodity chemicals and fuel.

Enhanced photosynthesis for agricultural productivity

Synthetic biology may hold the key to increasing yields on currently farmed land – and hence helping address food security – by enhancing photosynthesis and reducing pre-harvest losses, as well as reducing post-harvest and post-consumer waste.

Synthetic gene drives

Gene drives promote the inheritance of preferred genetic traits throughout a species, for example to prevent malaria-transmitting mosquitoes from breeding. However, this technology raises questions about whether it may alter ecosystems, potentially even creating niches where a new disease-carrying species or new disease organism may take hold.

Human genome editing

Genome engineering technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9 offer the possibility to improve human lifespans and health. However, their implementation poses major ethical dilemmas. It is feasible that individuals or states with the financial and technological means may elect to provide strategic advantages to future generations.

Defence agency research in biological engineering

̽��ֱ��areas of synthetic biology in which some defence agencies invest raise the risk of ‘dual-use’. For example, one programme intends to use insects to disseminate engineered plant viruses that confer traits to the target plants they feed on, with the aim of protecting crops from potential plant pathogens – but such technologies could plausibly also be used by others to harm targets.

In the next five to ten years, the authors identified areas of interest including:

Regenerative medicine: 3D printing body parts and tissue engineering

While this technology will undoubtedly ease suffering caused by traumatic injuries and a myriad of illnesses, reversing the decay associated with age is still fraught with ethical, social and economic concerns. Healthcare systems would rapidly become overburdened by the cost of replenishing body parts of citizens as they age and could lead new socioeconomic classes, as only those who can pay for such care themselves can extend their healthy years.

Microbiome-based therapies

̽��ֱ��human microbiome is implicated in a large number of human disorders, from Parkinson’s to colon cancer, as well as metabolic conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Synthetic biology approaches could greatly accelerate the development of more effective microbiota-based therapeutics. However, there is a risk that DNA from genetically engineered microbes may spread to other microbiota in the human microbiome or into the wider environment.

Intersection of information security and bio-automation

Advancements in automation technology combined with faster and more reliable engineering techniques have resulted in the emergence of robotic 'cloud labs' where digital information is transformed into DNA then expressed in some target organisms. This opens the possibility of new kinds of information security threats, which could include tampering with digital DNA sequences leading to the production of harmful organisms, and sabotaging vaccine and drug production through attacks on critical DNA sequence databases or equipment.

Over the longer term, issues identified include:

New makers disrupt pharmaceutical markets

Community bio-labs and entrepreneurial startups are customizing and sharing methods and tools for biological experiments and engineering. Combined with open business models and open source technologies, this could herald opportunities for manufacturing therapies tailored to regional diseases that multinational pharmaceutical companies might not find profitable. But this raises concerns around the potential disruption of existing manufacturing markets and raw material supply chains as well as fears about inadequate regulation, less rigorous product quality control and misuse.

Platform technologies to address emerging disease pandemics

Emerging infectious diseases—such as recent Ebola and Zika virus disease outbreaks—and potential biological weapons attacks require scalable, flexible diagnosis and treatment. New technologies could enable the rapid identification and development of vaccine candidates, and plant-based antibody production systems.

Shifting ownership models in biotechnology

̽��ֱ��rise of off-patent, generic tools and the lowering of technical barriers for engineering biology has the potential to help those in low-resource settings, benefit from developing a sustainable bioeconomy based on local needs and priorities, particularly where new advances are made open for others to build on.

Dr Jenny Molloy comments: “One theme that emerged repeatedly was that of inequality of access to the technology and its benefits. ̽��ֱ��rise of open source, off-patent tools could enable widespread sharing of knowledge within the biological engineering field and increase access to benefits for those in developing countries.”

Professor Johnathan Napier from Rothamsted Research adds: “ ̽��ֱ��challenges embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals will require all manner of ideas and innovations to deliver significant outcomes. In agriculture, we are on the cusp of new paradigms for how and what we grow, and where. Demonstrating the fairness and usefulness of such approaches is crucial to ensure public acceptance and also to delivering impact in a meaningful way.”

Dr Christian R. Boehm concludes: “As these technologies emerge and develop, we must ensure public trust and acceptance. People may be willing to accept some of the benefits, such as the shift in ownership away from big business and towards more open science, and the ability to address problems that disproportionately affect the developing world, such as food security and disease. But proceeding without the appropriate safety precautions and societal consensus—whatever the public health benefits—could damage the field for many years to come.”

̽��ֱ��research was made possible by the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, the Synthetic Biology Strategic Research Initiative (both at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge), and the Future of Humanity Institute ( ̽��ֱ�� of Oxford). It was based on a workshop co-funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation and the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

Reference
Wintle, BC, Boehm, CR et al. A transatlantic perspective on 20 emerging issues in biological engineering. eLife; 14 Nov 2017; DOI: 10.7554/eLife.30247

Human genome editing, 3D-printed replacement organs and artificial photosynthesis – the field of bioengineering offers great promise for tackling the major challenges that face our society. But as a new article out today highlights, these developments provide both opportunities and risks in the short and long term.

Susanne Nilsson

Reaching for the Sky

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From foundry to factory: building synthetic plants

lw355 — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 09:32:42 +0000

Humans have been modifying plants for millennia, domesticating wild species and creating a bewildering array of crops. Modern agriculture allows global cultivation of plants at extremely low cost, with production on the gigatonne scale of a wide range of biostuffs – from fibres, wood, oils and sugar, to fine chemicals, drugs and food.

But, in the 21st century, we face both ever-increasing demand and the need to shift towards more sustainable production systems. Can we build new plants that make better materials, act as miniature ‘factories’ for food and fuel, and minimise the human impact on the environment?

With this in mind, synthetic biologists are beginning to build new organisms – or at least reprogramme existing organisms – by turning the biology lab into an engineering foundry.

Synthetic biologists choose a ‘chassis’ and then bolt on standard parts – such as genes, the promoters that activate them and the systems they drive – to build something that’s tailor-made. And, like open-source software programmers, they have been looking to open-access and the sharing of code – in this case the DNA that codes for each part – as a practical means of speeding up innovation.

“Providing free access to an inventory of molecular parts for use in the construction of diverse plant-based systems promotes their creative use by others, just as the open-source feature has driven innovation in the computer software industry,” explained Professor Sir David Baulcombe from Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences.

Earlier this year, the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and the John Innes Centre in Norwich received £12 million in funding for a new UK synthetic biology centre – OpenPlant – to focus on the development of open technologies in plant synthetic biology and their application in engineering new crop traits. ̽��ֱ��effort is being led by Baulcombe and Dr Jim Haseloff in Cambridge, and by Professors Dale Sanders and Anne Osbourn in Norwich.

It’s one of three new UK centres for synthetic biology that, over the next five years, will receive more than £40 million in funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

OpenPlant aims to establish the first UK open-source DNA registry for sharing specific plant parts. It will also support fundamental science: “Construction of these parts will allow us to test our understanding of natural plant systems in which assemblages of parts create a greater whole,” Baulcombe explained.

Researchers like Baulcombe and Haseloff, who also leads a new Strategic Research Initiative to advance cross-disciplinary research in synthetic biology in Cambridge, believe that the investment in the three new centres will help the UK stay at the leading edge of plant synthetic biology.

“Any large-scale reprogramming of living systems requires access to a large number of components and, as the number of these parts balloons, the cost of building a portfolio of patents, or licensing parts from patent owners, could strangle the industry and restrict innovation,” explained Haseloff.

“While US researchers lead in the synthetic biology of microbes, the UK has the edge in plants. ̽��ֱ��field needs a new two-tier system for intellectual property so that new tools including DNA components are freely shared, while investment in applications can be protected.”

As well as new DNA components, Haseloff and colleagues have been focusing on a new plant chassis. Rather like the frame of a car, the chassis is the body of the cell that houses the rest of the desired parts. And for this they have turned to liverworts, relics of the first land plants to evolve around 500 million years ago.

̽��ֱ��Marchantia polymorpha liverwort is small, grows rapidly, has a simple genetic architecture and is proving such a useful test-bed for developing new DNA circuits that Haseloff has launched a web-based resource (www.marchantia.org) for a growing international community to exchange ideas. ̽��ֱ��hub characterises one of the wider aims of OpenPlant in promoting interdisciplinary exchange between fundamental and applied sciences, and is one of a series of collaborative projects, such as OpenLabTools (see panel), which are promoting open technology, innovation and exchange between engineers and physical, biological and social scientists across the ̽��ֱ��.

In parallel with the development of standardised parts, the Centre will support around 20 researchers and their teams in Cambridge and Norwich who are engineering new plant traits. For instance, scientists at the John Innes Centre are investigating new systems for producing useful compounds like vaccines. In Cambridge, researchers are creating systems with altered photosynthetic capabilities and leaf structure to boost conversion of the sun’s energy into food, as well as developing plant-based photovoltaics for fuel.

Another of OpenPlant’s aims is to foster debate on the wider implications of the technology at local and global scales. As Baulcombe described, “ ̽��ֱ��open source feature may allow straightforward discussion about the applications of synthetic biology in plants. Societal discussion about other strands of biotechnology has been greatly hampered by the complications following from intellectual property restrictions.”

“We think that biological technologies are the underpinning of the 21st-century’s industrial processes,” added Haseloff. “Plants are cheap and inherently sustainable, and have a major role to play in our future.

In order to implement ideas and shift towards more rational design principles to support advances, we need to have the ability to exploit synthetic biology technologies in a responsive way, and that’s where we see OpenPlant contributing in the years to come.”

Inset images: Marchantia - a primitive plant form used as the 'chassis' for designing new plants. Credit: Jim Haseloff.

A movement is under way that will fast-forward the design of new plant traits. It takes inspiration from engineering and the software industry, and is being underpinned in Cambridge and Norwich by an initiative called OpenPlant.

Plants are cheap and inherently sustainable, and have a major role to play in our future

Jim Haseloff

Marchantia - a primitive plant form used as the 'chassis' for designing new plants

OpenLabTools

OpenPlant is part of a wider move towards ‘sharing’ in Cambridge that now includes scientific tools of the trade.

Resourcing laboratories with scientific tools is a costly business. An automated microscope, for instance, could cost upwards of £75,000, and yet be a key tool in materials and biological laboratories.

Now, an initiative coordinated by Dr Alexandre Kabla, from the Department of Engineering, is rethinking how scientists can access the tools that they need at a less-prohibitive cost.

He recognised that a wealth of instrument-building know-how exists across the ̽��ֱ�� – expertise that could be drawn on to develop a suite of low-cost open-access scientific tools.

Raspberry Pi, for example, was conceived and incubated in the Computer Laboratory to encourage children to learn programming for themselves: this credit-card-sized computer is now available for only $25.

̽��ֱ��OpenLabTools initiative has set itself the task of creating high-end tools such as microscopes, 3D printers, rigs for automation and sensors, with an emphasis on undergraduate and graduate teaching and research. It was created with funding from the ̽��ֱ�� and the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and is supported by an academic team of engineers, physicists, materials scientists, plant biologists and computer scientists.

“Current projects primarily focus on the development of core components, thanks to the contributions of a team of physics and engineering students. However, we have already made significant progress towards the development of imaging systems and mechanical testing devices,” said Kabla, whose own expertise lies in the physics and mechanics of biological systems. “We anticipate that these will be rolled out in undergraduate laboratories sometime next year.”

To encourage open access, ‘How To’ manuals and designs are being published on the OpenLabTools website.

“It’s an exciting prospect,” said Kabla. “When you consider that consumer-grade low-cost microscopes are essentially a digital camera with a high magnification objective, not only can we build this but we can also provide a means to automate the microscopy, dramatically reducing the cost of the tool. ̽��ֱ��blueprints and tutorials we make available will be useful for undergraduate and research projects, as well as school activities and small-scale industrial applications running on a tight budget.”

www.openlabtools.org

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Fractal patterns spontaneously emerge during bacterial cell growth

gm349 — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:18:19 +0000

Despite bacterial colonies always forming circular shapes as they grow, their cells form internal divisions which are highly asymmetrical and branched. These fractal (self-similar) patterns are due to the physical forces and local instabilities that are a natural part of bacterial cell growth, a new study reveals. ̽��ֱ��research, published in the scientific journal ACS Synthetic Biology, has important implications for the emerging field of synthetic biology.

Using a combination of genetic, microscopy and computational tools, Cambridge scientists created a system for examining the development of multicellular bacterial populations. After marking bacteria by inserting genes for different coloured proteins, the researchers used high resolution microscopes to examine the growth of bacterial populations in detail. They discovered that as bacteria grow the cell populations naturally form striking and unexpected branching patterns called fractals. ̽��ֱ��scientists then used large-scale computer models to explore the patterning process.

They showed that as each bacterium grows in a single direction, lines or files of cells are formed, but these files are unstable to small disturbances. As large numbers of cells push and shove against each other, mechanical instability leads to buckling and folding of cell files. This is repeated as the cells continue to grow and divide, leading to the formation of rafts of aligned cells arranged in self-similar branching patterns, or fractals.

These microscopic fractal patterns emerge spontaneously from physical interactions between the large number of cells within the population. This was tested by looking at the interactions between twin cell populations and a mutant bacterium that has a round shape (where this behaviour is not observed).

Dr Jim Haseloff, from the Department of Plant Sciences at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and lead author of the study, said: “Vivid biological patterns emerge from even subtle interactions. Similar phenomena are seen in the emergence of order in economic, social and political systems.

“ ̽��ֱ��behaviour of large populations can be hard to predict, but the work has resulted in the validation of fast and accurate computer models that provide a test bed for reprogramming of multicellular systems.”

Synthetic Biology is a new field that brings engineering principles to biology to reprogram living systems using DNA. It is has the potential to create a new generation of sustainable technologies, with the prospect of new forms of materials and energy produced by biological feedstocks and recycling of waste. As synthetic biologists are starting to reprogram the behaviour of large populations of cells in order to explore new forms of self-organisation and function, this study will have important implications for their research.

Dr Haseloff added: “This is an experimental system that can capture the physics, cellularity and genetics of growth in a simple system - and which allows a new type of ‘emergence in a test-tube’ approach.

“Also, it provides a new insight into the way cell populations may interact during the early formation of medically important bacterial populations or biofilms, and produce irregular boundaries for invasive growth and increased surface contact. This could have important implications for understanding the formation of these biofilms, and for engineering new biofilms in biotechnology.”

Scientists discover highly asymmetric and branched patterns are the result of physical forces and local instabilities; research has important implications for understanding biofilms and multicellular systems.

Vivid biological patterns emerge from even subtle interactions. Similar phenomena are seen in the emergence of order in economic, social and political systems.

Dr Jim Haseloff, from the Department of Plant Sciences at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

Jim Haseloff Lab

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Lighting up plant cells to engineer biology

bjb42 — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:04:56 +0000

A new technique using fluorescence to automatically measure and map cellular activity in living plant tissue will contribute to better computer models that are at the heart of synthetic biology, the attempts to engineer living systems.

̽��ֱ��team at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences, led by Dr Jim Haseloff, have been working to uncover the mysteries of biological systems in certain plants - characterised by the highly complex genetic and cellular networks which are locked in a vast network of interactions - resulting in self-repair and reproduction in the organism.

These evolved biological systems are capable of creating structures of a hugely complex nature, far more sophisticated than the most advanced man-made materials - which the plants do in a renewable and, if it could be harnessed, a potentially very cheap way.

By creating new techniques allowing ever more detailed study of the cellular activity of plants, scientists believe it may be possible to reprogram living systems - which has given rise to an emerging field known as Synthetic Biology, which applies engineering principles to the building blocks of organic life.

“Synthetic Biology is based on the use of reusable components and numerical models - for the design of biological circuits, in a way that has become routine in other fields of engineering,” says Haseloff.

“Techniques such as the one we have developed will help us to discover more about the thrilling complexities of life at this level, and how we might be able to utilise the power of plants and their cellular networks in engineering - potentially revolutionising the way we engage with organic matter.”

At the moment, Synthetic Biology is in its infancy, and there is a critical need for improved techniques for measuring biological parameters within still living systems of cells.

This new technique - outlined in a paper published on the Nature journal’s Methods website on Sunday - involves fluorescent proteins, such as those originally found in certain jellyfish and corals. ̽��ֱ��proteins are used to mark and consequently identify specific parts of cells - the nuclei and membrane - mapping the development, position and geometry of the cellular make-up in the living plant tissue.

̽��ֱ��researchers combine the advanced imaging processes with algorithms that automate quantitative analysis of cell growth and genetic activity within living organisms to precisely reconstruct cellular dynamics - and produce a numerical description that can be used to inform computer models.

In this way the cellular properties in intact plant tissue can be observed in depth – and be converted to mathematical descriptions of the living processes. This opens the door for the construction of new computer models for Synthetic Biology and the engineering of living tissue.

Adds Haseloff: “We have been able to use the very latest technical advances in microscopy for quantitative analysis of cell size, shape and gene activity from images of living plant tissues. This new technique, which we call in planta cytometry, will contribute to a greater understanding of plant development, physiology and help pave the way for advances in biological engineering.”

Cambridge researchers have developed a new technique for measuring and mapping gene and cell activity through fluorescence in living plant tissue.

Techniques such as the one we have developed will help us to discover more about the thrilling complexities of life at this level.

Dr Jim Haseloff

Fernan Federici from the Haseloff lab

Root of Arabidopsis thaliana with green fluorescent protein decorating cell membrane and red fluorescent protein marking nuclei.

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Synthetic biology takes root

bjb42 — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:37:47 +0000

Living systems are complex, often involve tens of thousands of genetically encoded components, and possess feedback mechanisms for self-organisation, reproduction and repair. They produce functional structures that are many orders of magnitude more complex than the most sophisticated man-made artefacts known today. It is generally accepted that understanding such complex genetic systems requires more than a description of its component parts; knowledge of the dynamic interactions within a system is also essential. ̽��ֱ��emerging field of synthetic biology aims to employ principles of standardisation and decoupling, well known in engineering, to construct complex biological circuits that behave just like living systems.

Scaling up from microbes

Synthetic biology uses well-characterised and reusable genetic components in combination with numerical models for the design of biological circuits. For microbes, this approach is providing a powerful conceptual and practical framework for the systematic engineering of gene expression and behaviour.

Can the same be achieved for multicellular systems, with their greater diversity of cell types and biochemical specialisation? Of all multicellular systems, plants are the obvious first target for this type of approach. Plants possess indeterminate and modular body plans, have a wide spectrum of biosynthetic activities and can be genetically manipulated. Assembling new feedback-regulated genetic circuits could modify plant form and biosynthetic activities, with the ultimate prospect of using them in crop systems for the production of biomass, food, polymers, drugs and fuels.

Engineering plant systems

A systematic approach to engineering plants requires a suitable control circuit to be established by combining interchangeable DNA parts, devices and systems. Not only must robust gene expression be achieved at an appropriate level, time and place during the plant’s lifecycle, but the circuit must also trigger the expression of suitable genetic markers that alter the characteristics of the organism.

In the Department of Plant Sciences, a unique library of genetic circuits and interchangeable parts (PhytoBricks) is being created for the biological engineering of plant systems. A software environment has also been constructed to model the properties of the multicellular system, describing both the physical interactions between cells and the cells’ genetic properties. This allows the design and testing of new morphogenetic programs in silico, before creating the plant systems themselves.

̽��ֱ��future

̽��ֱ��growing application of engineering principles to biological design and construction marks a practical transition for biological research. As part of this shift, synthetic biology is beginning to offer improved rational design and reprogramming of biological systems. It holds great promise for the future improvements in microbial, plant and animal cell engineering that are clearly needed for the renewable technologies of the 21st century.

For more information, please contact the authors Dr Jim Haseloff (jh295@cam.ac.uk) at the Department of Plant Sciences or Dr Jim Ajioka (ja131@cam.ac.uk) at the Department of Pathology.

Creating circuits from multiple components is routine in engineering. Can living systems be constructed using similar principles?

Synthetic biology uses well-characterised and reusable genetic components in combination with numerical models for the design of biological circuits.

Dr Jim Hasseloff

plant image

IGEM

An annual, worldwide, open design challenge for students – to design and test a simple biological system from standard, interchangeable parts and to operate it in living cells – is held by the Biological Engineering Division of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. This competition, known as the International Genetically Engineered Machine (IGEM; www.igem.org), has played a special role in the development of synthetic biology as a field in Cambridge, acting as a nucleus for a growing network of researchers to collaborate; scientists from eight departments and three nearby institutes now work together through the Cambridge iGEM project. In 2007, the Cambridge team received Gold Awards and a prize for the best BioBrick (see www.synbio.org.uk).

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