Bioengineering teaches the secrets to turning on genes

In a recent study led by the University of Bristol, scientists showed how to simultaneously harness multiple forms of regulation in living cells to strictly control gene expression and open up new avenues for improved biotechnologies.

Manipulated microbes are increasingly being used to enable the sustainable and clean production of chemicals, medicines and much more. To make this possible, bioengineers must control when specific sets of genes are turned on and off to accurately regulate the relevant biochemical processes.

Their findings are reported in the journal today Nature communication.

Veronica Greco, lead author and a Royal Society-funded Ph.D. student at Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences, said: “Although a gene turns on or off, it’s a real challenge to get a living cell to do so on command. processes involved are not 100 percent reliable. “

To solve this problem, the team took inspiration from nature, where key events are often controlled simultaneously by several processes.

Veronica Greco added: “If you look at a Venus flytrap, you find that a trap will only close when several hairs are activated together. This reduces the chance that a trap can accidentally close. We wanted something similar. do when we express a gene in a cell, which adds multiple levels of regulation to ensure that it only starts exactly when we want it to. ‘

Professor Claire Grierson, co-author and principal of the School of Biological Sciences in Bristol, added: ‘What was wonderful about this project was how well it worked around two of the core processes that were present in each cell and that supported the whole of life. – utilize transcription. and translation. “

The team showed that by using this type of multilevel regulation they were able to create some of the most performance switches for gene expression to date.

The team, in collaboration with dr. Amir Pandi and Prof Tobias Erb of the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Bristol also go a step further. They have shown that these multilevel systems, even when used outside living cells, provide the strictest control over gene expression that has yet been seen.

Dr Thomas Gorochowski, senior author and research fellow at the Royal Society University in Bristol, said: “When designing microbes, we often try to simplify our systems as much as possible and think we will have better control over what happens. .