Synthetic biology has advanced the design of standardized control devices that program cellular functions and metabolic activities in living organisms1. Rational interconnection of these synthetic switches resulted in increasingly complex designer networks that execute input-triggered genetic instructions with precision, robustness and computational logic reminiscent of electronic circuits2, 3. Using trigger-controlled transcription factors, which independently control gene expression4, 5, and RNA-binding proteins that inhibit the translation of transcripts harbouring specific RNA target motifs6, 7, we have designed a set of synthetic transcription–translation control devices that could be rewired in a plug-and-play manner.

Programmable single-cell mammalian biocomputers

Simon Ausländer, David Ausländer, Marius Müller, Markus Wieland & Martin Fussenegger

Nature (2012) http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature11149