Pathway engineering via quorum sensing and sRNA riboregulators-Interconnected networks and controllers
Pathway engineering via quorum sensing and sRNA riboregulators-Interconnected networks and controllers
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DOI：
10.1016/j.ymben.2011.11.006
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发表时间：
2012-05-01
影响因子：
8.4
通讯作者：
Bentley, William E.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Carter, Karen K.;Valdes, James J.;Bentley, William E.
基因工程的出现提高了我们对细胞过程和功能的理解水平。这些发现的自然进展不仅决定了这些过程如何在单个细胞内发挥作用，而且还决定了在群落内如何发挥作用。细菌细胞通过产生、释放和感应化学信号分子来监测其附近的条件和微生物。当达到特定的细胞密度阈值时，就会感知到法定人数，基因表达谱发生改变，并且社区会协调更有效的集体活动。这种通信机制，用自诱导器 (AI) 的语言来说，称为群体感应 (QS)。越来越明显的是，当科学家试图破译细胞通信和群体感应网络的复杂性时，我们必须保持对细胞如何在环境中识别自身以及这如何影响 QS 的更广泛背景的意识。重要的是，这些现象跨越了几个数量级的时间和长度尺度。尽管小RNA作为参与群体感应级联的传感和调节元件的发现，已经连接了新的谜题，但它也增加了新的不确定性。群体感应网络的复杂性使得解决其不同机制变得困难。设计具有定义的、更可预测的甚至“模块化”元素的更简单网络的能力将有助于阐明这些行为。由于合成生物学包含了适应多种长度和时间尺度的生物设计创新概念，因此成为描述 QS 现象以及为生物技术应用提供新颖的实施策略的最有前途的平台之一。 (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. 保留所有权利。
The advent of genetic engineering has elevated our level of comprehension of cellular processes and functions. A natural progression of these findings is determining not only how these processes function within individual cells but also within a community. Bacterial cells monitor the conditions and microorganisms in their vicinity by producing, releasing and sensing chemical-signaling molecules. When a specific cell-density threshold is reached, a quorum is perceived, gene expression profiles are altered and the community orchestrates activities that are more effective en masse. This communication mechanism, in the language of autoinducers (AI), is referred to as quorum sensing (QS). It has become increasingly evident that while scientists attempt to decipher the intricacies of cellular communication and quorum sensing networks, we must remain conscious of the broader context of how a cell may identify itself in the environment and how this also impacts QS. Importantly, these phenomena span time and length scales by several orders in magnitude. Though the revelation of small RNAs, as both sensing and regulatory elements participating in the quorum sensing cascade, has connected new pieces of the puzzle, it has also added a new tier of uncertainty. The complexity of quorum sensing networks makes resolution of its diverse mechanisms difficult. The ability to design simpler networks with defined, more predictable or even "modular" elements will help elucidate these actions. Because it embraces innovative concepts of biological design accommodating the many length and time scales at play, synthetic biology serves as one of the most promising platforms for describing QS phenomena as well as enabling novel implementation strategies for biotechnological application. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.