Collaborative Research: Synthetic and Systems Biology Approaches to Semi-synthetic Cells with Expanded DNA Alphabets

合作研究：具有扩展 DNA 字母表的半合成细胞的合成和系统生物学方法

• 批准号: 2123996
• 负责人: Andrew Ellington
• 金额: $ 129.97万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-15 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2123996&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Synthetic; Systems; Biology

This project focuses on novel forms of DNA that are not built only from the standard four nucleotides found in natural DNA, but with two or four additional nucleotides, to form an "Artificially Expanded Genetic Information System" (AEGIS). Expanded DNA has already seen widespread use in human diagnostics and environmental surveillance for pathogens. This project will break new ground in developing our understanding of DNA, and develop new technology for business, defense, and health. It will do so by studying the interaction of AEGIS DNA and its components with living microbial cells. As AEGIS can support Darwinian evolution, seen by many as the essence of life, this project will drive a deeper understanding of life. Further, it will allow laboratory evolution of new functional materials, adding evolution and adaptation to points in biotechnology where description and design are inadequate. Finally, this project emphasizes public outreach efforts and the training of early career scientists.This project will complete engineering of bacterial strains that replicate, evolve, and use DNA built not from 4 different nucleotides, but from 6 or 8, DNA in an Artificially Expanded Genetic Information System (AEGIS). These strains, "Second Examples of Genetics Undergoing Evolution" (SEGUE) will use one (or both) of two 6-letter genetic alphabets, GACTKX and GACTZP. A multidisciplinary team of chemists, molecular biologists, philosophers, and bioengineers will exploit comprehensive preliminary data. Here, critical points are integrated to yield results beneficial across multiple platforms:• Broader Impacts in training, outreach, and risk analysis by having direct contact between experiments and those who study the history of and "science of" science.• Work to develop polymerases that replicate AEGIS DNA in vitro and in vivo SEGUE. These will themselves have value in environmental pathogen surveillance, diagnostics, and therapeutic development, as well as the creation of new materials for biotechnology.• Protein engineering to build a metabolic pathway to biosynthesize, inside of living cells, AEGIS triphosphates, allowing AEGIS to be used inexpensively.• Study of interactions between AEGIS and living cells, specifically to identify "third party" genes and regulatory systems that improve the performance and lower the cost of AEGIS in SEGUE.• Broader impacts include the training of experimental scientists in philosophical and ethical features of synthetic biology, iGEM projects, and training for undergraduate and graduate students. The implications throughout science are enormous, and touch on concepts of shadow biospheres, life on Mars and elsewhere in the Solar System, and how life in general is conceived and understood by scientists and the general public alike. Two updated books will provide a framework for thinking about these and other issues, Cleland's "The Quest for a Universal Theory of Life" and Benner's "Life, the Universe, and the Scientific Method." Other outreach materials will include the blog: "Primordial Scoop", which discusses science and technology from philosophical and ethical perspectives. Educational materials will be internationally available, including in classrooms, museums, and planetariums.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目专注于新形式的DNA，这些DNA不仅由天然DNA中发现的标准四个核苷酸构建而成，而且还额外添加了两到四个核苷酸，以形成一个“人工扩展遗传信息系统”(Aegis)。扩展的DNA已经在人类诊断和环境监测病原体方面得到了广泛的应用。这个项目将在加深我们对DNA的理解方面开辟新的天地，并开发用于商业、国防和健康的新技术。它将通过研究宙斯盾DNA及其成分与活的微生物细胞的相互作用来做到这一点。由于宙斯盾可以支持达尔文进化论，而达尔文进化论被许多人视为生命的本质，这个项目将推动对生命的更深入理解。此外，它将允许在实验室中进化新的功能材料，为生物技术中描述和设计不足的点增加进化和适应。最后，这个项目强调公共宣传努力和对早期职业科学家的培训。这个项目将完成细菌菌株的工程，这些菌株复制、进化，并使用人工扩展遗传信息系统(Aegis)中的DNA而不是从4个不同的核苷酸构建的DNA，而是从6或8个核苷酸构建的DNA。这些菌株是“进化中的遗传学的第二个例子”(SEGUE)，将使用两个6字母遗传字母中的一个(或两个)，GACTKX和GACTZP。一个由化学家、分子生物学家、哲学家和生物工程师组成的多学科团队将利用全面的初步数据。在这里，关键点被整合在一起，以产生跨多个平台的有益结果：·通过实验与研究科学史和科学的人之间的直接联系，在培训、推广和风险分析方面产生更广泛的影响。·致力于开发在体外和体内片段复制宙斯盾DNA的聚合酶。这些技术本身将在环境病原体监测、诊断和治疗开发以及生物技术新材料的创造方面具有价值。·蛋白质工程，以建立生物合成的代谢途径，在活细胞内，宙斯盾三磷酸盐，使宙斯盾得以廉价使用。·研究宙斯盾与活细胞之间的相互作用，特别是识别提高宙斯盾性能和降低成本的“第三方”基因和调控系统。·更广泛的影响包括对实验科学家进行合成生物学哲学和伦理特征的培训，iGEM项目，以及对本科生和研究生的培训。整个科学的影响是巨大的，涉及到阴影生物圈的概念，火星和太阳系其他地方的生命，以及科学家和普通公众是如何构思和理解生命的。两本更新的书将为思考这些和其他问题提供一个框架，克莱兰的《对普遍生命理论的探索》和本纳的《生命、宇宙和科学方法》。其他宣传材料还包括博客《原始独家新闻》，该博客从哲学和伦理学的角度讨论科学和技术。教育材料将在全球范围内提供，包括在教室、博物馆和天文馆。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。