CAREER: Synthetic auxotrophy for the containment of engineered microbes

这项由生物技术、生化和生物质工程项目授予的美国国家科学基金会职业奖，支持开发一种基于合成营养不良的工程生物的新型遏制策略。合成营养不良提供了一种策略，以减轻使用合成生物学工具开发的新生物体意外环境释放的风险。在这项研究中开发的合成营养不良细胞将被设计成这样，它们的生存能力依赖于自然界中不存在的化学物质。因此，这些生物不能在添加了合成化合物的封闭环境之外生存。产生这些合成营养缺陷的过程涉及一种新的蛋白质工程策略。它需要一种对生物体生长至关重要的蛋白质，这种蛋白质由一个基本基因编码，并重新连接它与细胞的相互作用，这样它就只能在合成化合物存在的情况下生长。在制定遏制战略的同时，PI将开发一个互动网站，通过互联网上现有的各种培训资源提供背景和导航。基于Trail的理念，或一系列相关的电子内容，该网站将引导学生通过教程、测验和多媒体内容来掌握特定的学科领域。这些科目包括合成生物学的技术实施，以及设计理论、基础科学和人类实践问题。这些努力共同解决了该领域生物安全和培训的关键未解决问题。

CBET 1151220/ AndersonThis NSF CAREER award by the Biotechnology, Biochemical and Biomass Engineering program supports the development of a novel containment strategy for engineered organisms based on synthetic auxotrophy. Synthetic auxotrophs provide a strategy for mitigating the risks of accidental environmental release of novel organisms developed using the tools of synthetic biology. The synthetic auxotrophs developed in this study will be engineered such that their viability is dependent upon a chemical not found in nature. Therefore these organisms cannot survive outside the contained environments to which the synthetic compound has been added. The process for generating these synthetic auxotrophs involves a novel protein engineering strategy. It takes a protein critical to the growth of the organism encoded by an essential gene and rewires its interactions with the cell such that it can only grows in the presence of the synthetic compound. Along with the development of containment strategies, the PI will develop an interactive website that provides context and navigation through the diverse training resources available on the internet. Based around the idea of a Trail, or a series of related electronic content, the site will guide students through tutorials, quizzes, and multimedia content towards mastery of specific subject areas. These subjects include the technical implementation of synthetic biology, as well as design theory, basic science, and issues of human practice. Together these efforts address key unresolved issues of biosafety and training in this field.