McDaniel Ryan, Weiss Ron
Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, New Jersey 08544, USA.
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2005 Aug;16(4):476-83. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2005.07.002.
Synthetic biology combines knowledge from various disciplines including molecular biology, engineering, mathematics and physics to design and build novel proteins, genetic circuits and metabolic networks. Early efforts aimed at altering the behavior of individual elements have now evolved to focus on the construction of complex networks in single-cell and multicellular systems. Recent achievements include the development of sophisticated non-native behaviors such as bi-stability, oscillations, proteins customized for biosensing, optimized drug synthesis and programmed spatial pattern formation. The de novo construction of such systems offers valuable quantitative insight into naturally occurring information processing activities. Furthermore, as the techniques for system design, synthesis and optimization mature, we will witness a rapid growth in the capabilities of synthetic systems with a wide-range of applications.
合成生物学融合了分子生物学、工程学、数学和物理学等多学科知识，用于设计和构建新型蛋白质、遗传电路和代谢网络。早期旨在改变单个元件行为的努力如今已发展为专注于在单细胞和多细胞系统中构建复杂网络。近期的成果包括开发出复杂的非天然行为，如双稳态、振荡、用于生物传感的定制蛋白质、优化的药物合成以及程序化的空间模式形成。此类系统的从头构建为自然发生的信息处理活动提供了有价值的定量见解。此外，随着系统设计、合成和优化技术的成熟，我们将见证合成系统能力的快速增长，其应用范围广泛。
