Synthetic Biology Building on Nature's Inspiration: Interdisciplinary Research Team Summaries (2010) / Chapter Skim
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IDR Team Summary 4: Designing communities of cells: how do we create communication and collaboration between cells to allow for specialization and division of labor?
IDR Team Summary 4: Designing communities of cells: how do we create communication and collaboration between cells to allow for specialization and division of labor?
Pages 37-44
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From page 37... ...
Two examples of such optimization include the ability to compartmentalize different biosynthetic reactions in different cells that are chemically incompatible with each other, and the ability to create coherent structures that are dramatically larger than the size limit imposed by the dimensions of a cell. Nevertheless, polycultures present a number of unique challenges compared to monocultures, such as engineering ecological stability (preventing one genotype from taking over the population)
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From page 38... ...
• What kinds of metabolic processes are best carried out through the cooperative action of distinct strains, rather than consolidated in a single cell? Are there advantages to spreading out metabolic functions even when the individual pathways involved are chemically compatible with each other?
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From page 39... ...
Engineered bidirectional communication mediates a consensus in a microbial biofilm consortium. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2007;104;17300-17304: http://www.pnas.org/content/104/44/17300.full.
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From page 40... ...
team comprising scientists in biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, and chemical, biological, and electrical engineering arrived at the 2009 National Academies Keck Futures Initiative Conference on Synthetic Biology to consider how synthetic biology might best harness the power of cellular collaboration. They considered the following: Synthetic biology often focuses on putting into action novel behaviors in independent cells.
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From page 41... ...
Seemingly fragile components form surprisingly robust communities and emerge as symbionts. There are breaks in our knowledge about how such communities age, how they repair themselves, how their constituents interact to reach a common goal, and why one community flourishes while another flounders.
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From page 42... ...
School children could observe, for instance, how a consortium breaks down sugars at different temperatures and on different timescales. Another idea is a "land and pond rover" based on the somewhat bizarre life cycle of the well-studied slime mold Dictyosthelium discoideum, Dicty for short.
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From page 43... ...
For instance, their genetic circuits might allow the use of a laser or radio-waves to communicate with each other. The cells might be further changed and molded externally and internally, by engineering their environment and by synthetic parasites designed to accomplish specific cellular changes.
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From page 44... ...
The group members foresee building and exploring different architectures as an important challenge when moving toward their goals. They agreed to start work on simple proof-of-principle systems, but also to start moving from "toys to products" -- creating commercial products to bring tangible benefits to society.
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