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A synthetic three-color scaffold for monitoring genetic regulation and noise

Journal Article · · Journal of Biological Engineering
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Division of Biology; California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Dept. of Engineering and Applied Science; RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, Yokohama (Japan); DOE/OSTI
  2. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Dept. of Engineering and Applied Science; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Joint BioEnergy Inst.
  3. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Division of Biology; California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Dept. of Engineering and Applied Science; California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Howard Hughes Medical Inst.
Background: Current methods for analyzing the dynamics of natural regulatory networks, and quantifying synthetic circuit function, are limited by the lack of well-characterized genetic measurement tools. Fluorescent reporters have been used to measure dynamic gene expression, but recent attempts to monitor multiple genes simultaneously in single cells have not focused on independent, isolated measurements. Multiple reporters can be used to observe interactions between natural genes, or to facilitate the ‘debugging’ of biologically engineered genetic networks. Using three distinguishable reporter genes in a single cell can reveal information not obtainable from only one or two reporters. One application of multiple reporters is the use of genetic noise to reveal regulatory connections between genes. Experiments in both natural and synthetic systems would benefit from a well-characterized platform for expressing multiple reporter genes and synthetic network components. Results: We describe such a plasmid-based platform for the design and optimization of synthetic gene networks, and for analysis of endogenous gene networks. This network scaffold consists of three distinguishable fluorescent reporter genes controlled by inducible promoters, with conveniently placed restriction sites to make modifications straightforward. We quantitatively characterize the scaffold in Escherichia coli with single-cell fluorescence imaging and time-lapse microscopy. The three spectrally distinct reporters allow independent monitoring of genetic regulation and analysis of genetic noise. As a novel application of this tool we show that the presence of genetic noise can reveal transcriptional co-regulation due to a hidden factor, and can distinguish constitutive from regulated gene expression. Conclusion: We have constructed a general chassis where three promoters from natural genes or components of synthetic networks can be easily inserted and independently monitored on a single construct using optimized fluorescent protein reporters. We have quantitatively characterized the baseline behavior of the chassis so that it can be used to measure dynamic gene regulation and noise. Overall, the system will be useful both for analyzing natural genetic networks and assembling synthetic ones.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Institutes of Health (NIH); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Biological Systems Science Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1629614
Journal Information:
Journal of Biological Engineering, Journal Name: Journal of Biological Engineering Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 4; ISSN 1754-1611
Publisher:
BioMed CentralCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Systematic characterization of maturation time of fluorescent proteins in living cells journal November 2017
Cooperativity of Negative Autoregulation Confers Increased Mutational Robustness journal June 2016
Synthetic biology approaches to improve biocatalyst identification in metagenomic library screening journal August 2014
Characterization of an inducible promoter in different DNA copy number conditions journal March 2012
Construction and characterization of broad-host-range reporter plasmid suitable for on-line analysis of bacterial host responses related to recombinant protein production journal May 2019
SBOL Visual: A Graphical Language for Genetic Designs journal December 2015
Temporal order and precision of complex stress responses in individual bacteria journal February 2019
Colonial vs. planktonic type of growth: mathematical modeling of microbial dynamics on surfaces and in liquid, semi-liquid and solid foods journal October 2015
Elevated Plasma microRNA-105-5p Level in Patients With Idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease: A Potential Disease Biomarker journal March 2019
Automated Cell Treatment for Competence and Transformation of Escherichia coli in a High-Throughput Quasi-Turbidostat Using Microtiter Plates journal June 2018
A single-cell study on stochasticity growth and gene expression text January 2016
A novel whole-cell biosensor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to monitor the expression of quorum sensing genes journal May 2018
Randomness in biology journal March 2014
Sensor-regulator and RNAi based bifunctional dynamic control network for engineered microbial synthesis journal August 2018
Composability of regulatory sequences controlling transcription and translation in Escherichia coli journal August 2013
Autoregulation of mazEF expression underlies growth heterogeneity in bacterial populations journal February 2018
Local interactions lead to spatially correlated gene expression levels in bacterial groups posted_content February 2017
Experimental Determination of Evolutionary Barriers to Horizontal Gene Transfer posted_content August 2019
The private life of environmental bacteria: pollutant biodegradation at the single cell level: Phenotypic diversification of environmental bacteria journal January 2014
Causes and Effects of N-Terminal Codon Bias in Bacterial Genes journal September 2013
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Heterogeneity in efflux pump expression predisposes antibiotic-resistant cells to mutation journal November 2018
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