Pardee Keith
Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3M2, Canada.
Biochem Eng J. 2018 Oct 15;138:91-97. doi: 10.1016/j.bej.2018.07.008.
Cell-free synthetic biology is an exciting and new branch in the field of synthetic biology. Based on transcription and translation systems, this application-focused domain builds on decades of cell-free biochemistry and protein expression to operate synthetic gene networks outside of cellular environments. This has brought new and perhaps even unexpected advantages. Chief among these is the ability to operate genetically encoded tools in a sterile and abiotic format. Recent work has extended this advantage by freeze-drying these cell-free systems into dried pellets or embedded paper-based reactions. Taken together, these new ideas have solved the longstanding challenge of how to deploy poised synthetic gene networks in a biosafe mode outside of the laboratory. There is significant excitement in the potential of this newfound venue and the community has begun to extend proof-of-concept demonstrations in important and creative ways. Here I explore these new efforts and provide my thoughts on the challenges and opportunities ahead for freeze-dried, cell-free synthetic biology.
无细胞合成生物学是合成生物学领域一个令人兴奋的新分支。基于转录和翻译系统，这个以应用为导向的领域建立在数十年的无细胞生物化学和蛋白质表达基础之上，用于在细胞外环境中操作合成基因网络。这带来了新的、甚至可能意想不到的优势。其中最主要的是能够以无菌和非生物的形式操作基因编码工具。最近的工作通过将这些无细胞系统冷冻干燥成干颗粒或嵌入基于纸张的反应中，进一步扩展了这一优势。综上所述，这些新想法解决了如何在实验室外以生物安全模式部署稳定的合成基因网络这一长期存在的挑战。人们对这个新发现的领域的潜力感到非常兴奋，并且该领域已经开始以重要且富有创造性的方式扩展概念验证演示。在此，我将探讨这些新的努力，并对冻干无细胞合成生物学未来面临的挑战和机遇发表我的看法。
