Introduction to Genetic Circuit Engineering

Synthetic biology can be used to customize biomedicine and biotechnology applications by rewiring genetic networks of natural biological cells. It aims to engineer and redesign biological systems. Inspired by the design of electronic logic circuits, synthetic biology enables the synthesis of genetic logic circuits and cell reprogramming.

Genetic circuit engineering refers to the synthesis of unnatural DNA segments that encode RNA molecules or proteins to control each other’s levels. Distinguished from top-down genomic engineering, genetic circuit engineering is a bottom-up approach. The main purpose of genetic circuit engineering is to understand how natural systems are reconstructed in the laboratory. In recent years, genetic engineering has progressed that it is able to construct novel genetic circuits with different functions and activation mechanisms. The achievements in genetic circuit engineering are remarkable.

Figure 1. Engineered gene circuits. (Ausländer S Fussenegger M., 2016)