Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Differentiation within multicellular organisms is a complex process that helps to establish spatial patterning and tissue formation within the body. Often, the differentiation of cells is governed by morphogens and intercellular signaling molecules that guide the fate of each cell, frequently using toggle-like regulatory components. Synthetic biologists have long sought to recapitulate patterned differentiation with engineered cellular communities, and various methods for differentiating bacteria have been invented. Here, we couple a synthetic corepressive toggle switch with intercellular signaling pathways to create a "quorum-sensing toggle". We show that this circuit not only exhibits population-wide bistability in a well-mixed liquid environment but also generates patterns of differentiation in colonies grown on agar containing an externally supplied morphogen. If coupled to other metabolic processes, circuits such as the one described here would allow for the engineering of spatially patterned, differentiated bacteria for use in biomaterials and bioelectronics.
Source: ACS Synthetic Biology
Institutions: Rice University, University of Houston, Northeastern University
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, Welch Foundation, University of Houston, Rice University, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, National Institutes of Health, Ciência sem Fronteiras, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Division of Mathematical Sciences, Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Awards: New techniques for analyzing the long-term behavior of intracellular networks, G1523888516, G3289633681, G4159329552, G419348702, G4516736450, G4746249109, G601495045, Collaborative Research: MODULUS: A synthetic biology approach to understanding environment sensing in multicellular systems, G6478756169, G6568728450, Collaborative Research: MODULUS: A synthetic biology approach to understanding environment sensing in multicellular systems, G7317649514, G9000086340
OpenAlex ID: W4402078911