Systems Biology Project

Title Synthetic integrons for continuous directed evolution of complex genetic ensembles

Principal Investigator Professor Declan Bates

Collaborators Dr Susan Rosser (University of Glasgow), Professor Paul Freemont (University College London), Professor Anne Osbourn (John Innes Centre), Professor Joshua Leonard (Northwestern University, USA), Professor Jay Keasling (University of Berkeley, USA)

Summary A grand challenge in synthetic biology is the need for technologies that enable the construction of novel and complex functions in biological systems. Here we propose to develop a synthetic system that harnesses the power of multiple natural mechanisms to enable synthetic biologists to generate, diversify, and refine complex multigenic functions. The core of our technology will be based on a bacterial integrons, which are natural cloning and expression systems that assemble multiple open reading frames (gene cassettes), using site-specific recombination and conversion to functional genes by expression from an internal promoter.

Funding body EPSRC / NSF

Timescale 2010 to 2012