IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v12y2021i1d10.1038_s41467-021-21995-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Harnessing the central dogma for stringent multi-level control of gene expression

Author

Listed:
  • F. Veronica Greco

    (University of Bristol)

  • Amir Pandi

    (Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology)

  • Tobias J. Erb

    (Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology
    SYNMIKRO Center of Synthetic Microbiology)

  • Claire S. Grierson

    (University of Bristol
    University of Bristol)

  • Thomas E. Gorochowski

    (University of Bristol
    University of Bristol)

Abstract

Strictly controlled inducible gene expression is crucial when engineering biological systems where even tiny amounts of a protein have a large impact on function or host cell viability. In these cases, leaky protein production must be avoided, but without affecting the achievable range of expression. Here, we demonstrate how the central dogma offers a simple solution to this challenge. By simultaneously regulating transcription and translation, we show how basal expression of an inducible system can be reduced, with little impact on the maximum expression rate. Using this approach, we create several stringent expression systems displaying >1000-fold change in their output after induction and show how multi-level regulation can suppress transcriptional noise and create digital-like switches between ‘on’ and ‘off’ states. These tools will aid those working with toxic genes or requiring precise regulation and propagation of cellular signals, plus illustrate the value of more diverse regulatory designs for synthetic biology.

Suggested Citation

  • F. Veronica Greco & Amir Pandi & Tobias J. Erb & Claire S. Grierson & Thomas E. Gorochowski, 2021. "Harnessing the central dogma for stringent multi-level control of gene expression," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-21995-7
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21995-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21995-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-021-21995-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shivang Hina-Nilesh Joshi & Chentao Yong & Andras Gyorgy, 2022. "Inducible plasmid copy number control for synthetic biology in commonly used E. coli strains," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Carolyn N. Bayer & Maja Rennig & Anja K. Ehrmann & Morten H. H. Nørholm, 2021. "A standardized genome architecture for bacterial synthetic biology (SEGA)," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Amir Pandi & Christoph Diehl & Ali Yazdizadeh Kharrazi & Scott A. Scholz & Elizaveta Bobkova & Léon Faure & Maren Nattermann & David Adam & Nils Chapin & Yeganeh Foroughijabbari & Charles Moritz & Nic, 2022. "A versatile active learning workflow for optimization of genetic and metabolic networks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Michael B. Sheets & Nathan Tague & Mary J. Dunlop, 2023. "An optogenetic toolkit for light-inducible antibiotic resistance," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    5. Yuanli Gao & Lei Wang & Baojun Wang, 2023. "Customizing cellular signal processing by synthetic multi-level regulatory circuits," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-21995-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.