Synthetic Biology – News and Features

Researchers have engineered a strain of E. coli that can digest polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics and transform them into adipic acid – a useful feedstock for nylon materials, drugs and fragrances.

A recent discovery, published in PLoS Genetics, challenges the “rulebook” of DNA. We speak with the first author, Dr. Jamie McGowan, to learn about the accidental finding and what it means for synthetic biology.

The DNA double helix is composed of two DNA molecules whose sequences are complementary to each other. Researchers succeeded in creating fluorescent duplexes that can generate any of 16 million colors.

A chloroplast enzyme safeguards plants against pathological protein aggregation that causes Huntington’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers may have found a way to “copy” the mechanism for application in human cells.

Pooled promoter responses to TF perturbation sequencing (PPTP-seq) is a new technique that integrates CRISPR gene editing with a combinatorial library containing every known transcription factor in the target genome and corresponding promoters.

Bacteria live in nearly every habitat on earth including within soil, water, acidic hot springs and even within our own guts. But scientists don’t understand a fundamental process within bacterial cells: how they organize themselves before division.

Trust your gut? Your doctor likely will, too. Probiotics engineered to sense and report signs of bowel inflammation could deliver firsthand knowledge of your system’s inner workings.

Researchers have developed a computational simulation that explains a key mechanism of DNA segregation. Their findings pave the way for experimental testing and reveal fundamental biochemical principles.

A research team has used deep learning methods to support de novo protein design, resulting in a 10-fold increase in success rates for a protein binding with its target.

Researchers have developed a way to make conductive, biodegradable wires from designed proteins. They say that these wires have the potential for use in biosensors to diagnose diseases and detect environmental pollutants.