Payne Stephen, Smith Robert Phillip, You Lingchong
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Methods Mol Biol. 2012;813:315-30. doi: 10.1007/978-1-61779-412-4_19.
A major focus in synthetic biology is the rational design and implementation of gene circuits to control dynamics of individual cells and, increasingly, cellular populations. Population-level control is highlighted in recent studies which attempt to design and implement synthetic ecosystems (or engineered microbial consortia). On the one hand, these engineered systems may serve as a critical technological foundation for practical applications. On the other hand, they may serve as well-defined model systems to examine biological questions of broad relevance. Here, using a synthetic predator-prey ecosystem as an example, we illustrate the basic experimental techniques involved in system implementation and characterization. By extension, these techniques are applicable to the analysis of other microbial-based synthetic or natural ecosystems.
合成生物学的一个主要重点是合理设计和构建基因回路，以控制单个细胞乃至越来越多细胞群体的动态变化。近期的研究着重于群体水平的控制，这些研究试图设计和构建合成生态系统（或工程微生物群落）。一方面，这些工程系统可作为实际应用的关键技术基础。另一方面，它们也可作为定义明确的模型系统，用于研究具有广泛相关性的生物学问题。在此，我们以一个合成捕食者 - 猎物生态系统为例，阐述系统构建与表征过程中涉及的基本实验技术。通过扩展，这些技术适用于分析其他基于微生物的合成或自然生态系统。
