Salis Howard, Tamsir Alvin, Voigt Christopher
Contrib Microbiol. 2009;16:194-225. doi: 10.1159/000219381. Epub 2009 Jun 2.
In the emerging field of synthetic biology, a central goal is to reliably engineer bacteria to respond to environmental signals according to a pre-determined genetic program. The sensor systems and genetic circuitry inside bacteria are the 'eyes' and 'brain' of a new class of biotechnological applications in which bacteria are used as living, self-replicating computers that can beneficially interact with the physical world. These engineered gene networks are constructed by extracting natural sensor systems and other genetic parts from multiple organisms and recombining them into novel configurations. This chapter is a how-to guide. It describes several strategies for engineering new bacterial sensor systems and synthetic gene networks that are capable of sensing a desired stimulus and generating interesting dynamical or pattern-forming responses. We also provide specification sheets describing many two-component and quorum-sensing systems, focusing on the information that one needs to know in order to use them for engineering applications.
在合成生物学这个新兴领域，一个核心目标是可靠地改造细菌，使其根据预先确定的遗传程序对环境信号做出响应。细菌内部的传感器系统和遗传电路是一类新型生物技术应用的“眼睛”和“大脑”，在这类应用中，细菌被用作能够与物理世界进行有益互动的活体、自我复制计算机。这些经过工程改造的基因网络是通过从多种生物体中提取天然传感器系统和其他遗传元件，并将它们重新组合成新颖的配置而构建的。本章是一份操作指南。它描述了几种改造新型细菌传感器系统和合成基因网络的策略，这些系统和网络能够感知所需刺激并产生有趣的动态或模式形成反应。我们还提供了描述许多双组分和群体感应系统的规格说明书，重点关注为了将它们用于工程应用而需要了解的信息。
