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Scientists Turn Mammalian Cells Into Complex Biocomputers
Researchers at Boston University have genetically engineered the DNA of mammalian cells to execute complex computations.
Credit: ktsimage/iStockphoto
Researchers at Boston University (BU) have genetically engineered the DNA of mammalian cells to execute complex computations.
BU's Wilson Wong and colleagues used scissorlike DNA recombinases to switch human kidney cells on and off. The recombinases identify two target segments of DNA, then snip out any interstitial DNA and join the severed ends of the molecule back together.
The team designed genetic circuits using the promoter enzyme to read out a cell's DNA, transcribe its genes into RNA, and then convert the RNA into proteins.
The researchers formed a simple circuit by inserting four additional DNA snippets after a promoter. The main one generated green fluorescent protein while in front of it was a termination sequence, flanked by two snippets signaling the recombinase.
The team installed another gene inside the same cell that made a modified recombinase, triggered only when bound to a particular drug.
From Science
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