Evolutionary Algorithms in a Bacterial Consortium of Synthetic Bacteria

Abstract

At present, synthetic biology applications are based on the programming of synthetic bacteria with custom-designed genetic circuits through the application of a top-down strategy. These genetic circuits are the programs that implement a certain algorithm, the bacterium being the agent or shell responsible for the execution of the program in a given environment. In this work, we study the possibility that instead of programming synthesized bacteria through a custom-designed genetic circuit, it is the circuit itself which emerges as a result of the evolution simulated through an evolutionary algorithm. This study is conducted by performing in silico experiments in a community composed of synthetic bacteria in which one species or strain behaves as pathogenic bacteria against the rest of the non-pathogenic bacteria that are also part of the bacterial consortium. The goal is the eradication of the pathogenic strain through the evolutionary programming of the agents or synthetic bacteria. The results obtained suggest the plausibility of the evolutionary design of the appropriate genetic circuit resulting from the application of a bottom-up strategy and therefore the experimental feasibility of the evolutionary programming of synthetic bacteria.