Biological circuit chemotactic converters

摘要

Described herein are novel biological circuit chemotactic converter that utilize modular components, such as genetic toggle switches and single invertase memory modules (SIMMs), for detecting and converting external inputs, such as chemoattractants, into outputs that allow for autonomous chemotaxis in cellular systems. Flexibility in these biological circuit chemotactic converter is provided by combining individual modular components, i.e., SIMMs and genetic toggle switches, together. These biological converter switches can be combined in a variety of network topologies to create network systems that regulate chemotactic responses based on the combination and nature of input signals received.

主权项

1. A biological circuit chemotactic converter composition comprising:
at least one input module (IM)n nucleic acid comprising an inducible promoter nucleic acid sequence (iPA) operably linked to a repressor nucleic acid sequence encoding a repressor protein (RA); at least one genetic toggle switch (TS) n nucleic acid comprising a first repressible promoter nucleic acid sequence (rP1) that drives expression of a second repressor nucleic acid sequence (R2) encoding a second repressor protein, and a second repressible promoter nucleic acid sequence (rP2) that drives expression of a first repressor nucleic acid sequence (R1) encoding a first repressor protein, (rP1-R2 and rP2-R1), wherein the rP1 is inhibited by the first repressor protein and the rP2 is inhibited by the second repressor protein and wherein RA of at least one input module acts as a repressor for rP1 of at least one genetic toggle switch; at least one logic module (LM)n nucleic acid consisting essentially of a repressible promoter nucleic acid sequence (rPB) operably linked to a repressor nucleic acid sequence (RB), wherein rPB is inhibited by the second repressor protein of at least one genetic toggle switch; and at least two sensor module (SMA and SMB)n+1 nucleic acids, wherein each of the two sensor module nucleic acids comprises a repressible promoter nucleic acid sequence (rPC and rPD, respectively) operably linked to a nucleic acid sequence encoding a sensor molecule (sensor A and sensor B) and wherein n ≧1; wherein the repressible promoter nucleic acid sequence of at least one sensor module is repressed by the repressor protein encoded by at least one logic module, and the repressible promoter nucleic acid sequence of another of the at least two sensor modules is directly repressed by the second repressor protein encoded by at least one genetic toggle switch; and wherein if no input signal is received by the at least one input module nucleic acids, only sensor A is expressed, and wherein if an input signal is received by at least one input module nucleic acid, then sensor A is not expressed; and wherein the repressor proteins encoded by any of the logic module nucleic acid sequences are different from the repressor proteins encoded by any of the at least one input module nucleic acid sequences and are different from the repressor proteins encoded by any of the at least one genetic toggle switch nucleic acid sequences.