Advances in Synthetic Biology

Kahl, Linda J.; Hennig, Stefan; Chandrasegaran, Srinivasan; Chen, San‐Feng; Delaplace, Franck; Marris, Claire

doi:10.1007/978-981-15-0081-7

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…RNA elements that respond to specific trigger signals are valuable tools in synthetic biology, biotechnology, and biomedical DOI: 10.1002/advs.202304519 applications as they allow for the control and analysis of gene expression. [1] The underlying interactions between the RNA and trigger signals are achieved by aptamer domains, i.e., RNA structures that bind target molecules with high specificity and affinity. For example, the recently emerged fluorogenic RNAs, such as spinach, broccoli and pepper, enable the construction of light-up sensors that directly respond to concentration variations of small molecules, other RNAs, and proteins in cells.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An RNA Motif That Enables Optozyme Control and Light‐Dependent Gene Expression in Bacteria and Mammalian Cells

Pietruschka,

Ranzani,

Weber

et al. 2024

Advanced Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The regulation of gene expression by light enables the versatile, spatiotemporal manipulation of biological function in bacterial and mammalian cells. Optoribogenetics extends this principle by molecular RNA devices acting on the RNA level whose functions are controlled by the photoinduced interaction of a light‐oxygen‐voltage photoreceptor with cognate RNA aptamers. Here light‐responsive ribozymes, denoted optozymes, which undergo light‐dependent self‐cleavage and thereby control gene expression are described. This approach transcends existing aptamer‐ribozyme chimera strategies that predominantly rely on aptamers binding to small molecules. The optozyme method thus stands to enable the graded, non‐invasive, and spatiotemporally resolved control of gene expression. Optozymes are found efficient in bacteria and mammalian cells and usher in hitherto inaccessible optoribogenetic modalities with broad applicability in synthetic and systems biology.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An RNA Motif That Enables Optozyme Control and Light‐Dependent Gene Expression in Bacteria and Mammalian Cells

Pietruschka,

Ranzani,

Weber

et al. 2024

Advanced Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Artificial Small Molecules as Cofactors and Biomacromolecular Building Blocks in Synthetic Biology: Design, Synthesis, Applications, and Challenges

Dong

et al. 2023

Molecules

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Enzymes are essential catalysts for various chemical reactions in biological systems and often rely on metal ions or cofactors to stabilize their structure or perform functions. Improving enzyme performance has always been an important direction of protein engineering. In recent years, various artificial small molecules have been successfully used in enzyme engineering. The types of enzymatic reactions and metabolic pathways in cells can be expanded by the incorporation of these artificial small molecules either as cofactors or as building blocks of proteins and nucleic acids, which greatly promotes the development and application of biotechnology. In this review, we summarized research on artificial small molecules including biological metal cluster mimics, coenzyme analogs (mNADs), designer cofactors, non-natural nucleotides (XNAs), and non-natural amino acids (nnAAs), focusing on their design, synthesis, and applications as well as the current challenges in synthetic biology.

show abstract

Today's Biothreats – Where the Past Predictions Meet the Future

Lakota

2020

jour

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The catastrophic spread of COVID-19 pandemic, uncontrolled by modern medical science, regardless of whether it is artificial or not, clearly shows the limits of human mind and knowledge to resist this and other similar challenges. The purpose of this work is to show the danger of dual-use biotechnologies in the development of fundamentally new approaches to biological damage to humans. The forecasts of the development of biotechnologies, made by the experts of the American organization JASON and other specialists 23 years ago, are analyzed. It is shown in the article, that in general these forecasts and assessments turned out to be true. The technologies that, most probably, can be used for the development of new means of biological destruction are: binary bioweapons – these are two-component systems that are relatively safe to handle but become deadly when the two components come together on deployment; designer genes – where specific unnatural gene sequences are built into viruses or other life forms to incorporate into the genome of the unsuspecting host, which later becomes the victim; gene therapy – today a medical (partial) reality; the technology that allows medicine to repair or replace defective genes in a diseased individual might be subverted to introduce pathogenic sequences into healthy individuals; stealth viruses – viruses that could be fashioned by a researcher to infect the host but remain silent until activated by some physiological or environmental trigger; host-swapping diseases – new zoonotic agents which might be developed specifically for bioweapon purposes by modifying existing pathogens to seek human hosts; designer diseases – where the detailed knowledge of biochemical signaling pathways could conceivably be used to create designer diseases. In addition to those predicted by JASON, another dualuse technology has emerged recently – synthetic biology. It is a very powerful interdisciplinary branch of biology. Specific examples of the use of these technologies to create new means of biological warfare are given in the article. The author believes that it is necessary not only to track new dual-use biotechnologies, but also to improve conventional and scientific methods of monitoring their use.

show abstract

Advances in Synthetic Biology

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

An RNA Motif That Enables Optozyme Control and Light‐Dependent Gene Expression in Bacteria and Mammalian Cells

An RNA Motif That Enables Optozyme Control and Light‐Dependent Gene Expression in Bacteria and Mammalian Cells

Artificial Small Molecules as Cofactors and Biomacromolecular Building Blocks in Synthetic Biology: Design, Synthesis, Applications, and Challenges

Today's Biothreats – Where the Past Predictions Meet the Future

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About