Controlling cell function by synthetic biology approaches

在合成生物学领域，研究人员通过设计和构建生物分子和生物系统来理解生命和开发新的生物技术。然而，设计功能性生物分子和系统来控制细胞功能仍然是一个挑战。在这项研究中，我们设计了合成的“RNA开关”，可以检测细胞中表达的特定蛋白质并控制靶基因的表达。因此，我们产生了几种在哺乳动物细胞中起作用的RNA开关（Nucleic Acids Res. 40：9369，2012，Nucleic Acids Res. 41：el35，2013，Nature Commun. 4：2393，2013）。

It is important to develop a method that controls gene expression dependent on intracellular environment.In synthetic biology field, researchers aim to understand life and develop new biotechnologies through the process of designing and constructing biomolecules and biological systems. However, designing functional biomolecules and systems to control cell function has remained a challenge. In this study, we designed synthetic "RNA switches" that detect specific proteins expressed in cells and control expression of target genes. As a result, we generated several RNA switches that function in mammalian cells (Nucleic Acids Res. 40:9369, 2012, Nucleic Acids Res. 41:e135, 2013, Nature Commun. 4:2393,2013).