Science: Successfully constructed a switch based on protein-protein interaction

Synthetic biology provides a way to modify cells to perform new functions, such as fluorescing when they detect a certain chemical

Now, in a new study, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States have developed an alternative method for designing such synthetic circuits that rely entirely on rapid and reversible protein-protein interactions

The authors say that such synthetic circuits may be used to make environmental sensors or diagnostic systems to reveal disease states or upcoming events, such as heart attacks

Protein interaction

In living cells, protein-protein interactions are important steps in many signal transduction pathways, including those involved in immune cell activation and in response to hormones or other signals

In this new study, the authors used yeast cells to carry their synthetic circuits and created a network of 14 proteins from species including yeast, bacteria, plants, and humans

Their network is the first synthetic circuit composed entirely of phosphorylated/dephosphorylated protein-protein interactions, and is designed as a toggle switch-a circuit that can quickly and reversibly switch between two stable states , So that it can "remember" a specific event, such as exposure to a certain chemical

Once sorbitol is detected, the cell stores the memory of the exposure in the form of a fluorescent protein located in the nucleus

These circuit networks can also be programmed to perform other functions in response to input

By using large arrays of these cells, they can build ultra-sensitive sensors that respond to target molecule concentrations as low as one part per billion

complex network

The switching network designed by these authors in this study is larger and more complex than most synthesis circuits previously designed

A new type of synthetic biological circuit can be activated in a few seconds, much faster than similar products

These authors now hope to use their protein-based circuits to develop sensors that can be used to detect environmental pollutants

Note: The original text has been deleted

Reference materials:

Deepak Mishra et al.

Boris N.