Synthetic biology 1

Question 1

what is synthetic biology

Answer 1

the design and engineer of biological parts, devices and systems, and the redesign of existing systems

Question 2

what is a synthetic cell

Answer 2

one that operates off a chemically synthesised genome

Question 3

name 3 benefits of artificial cells

Answer 3

more predictable than natural cells
streamlined for one task - more efficient
cells are confined to a lab

Question 4

how was synthia created

Answer 4

used mutagenesis to identify essential genes to make a cell by trial and error - made up of genes needed for the cell to survive and reproduce - 473 genes

Question 5

why was synthia a breakthrough

Answer 5

we have the capacity to build microbes to solve human problems - only limited by imagination

Question 6

what are parts, devices and systems

Answer 6

parts - encode biological functions
devices - collection of parts, and encode human defined functions
systems - perform tasks

Question 7

what type of cell was synthia originally isolated from, and how was the genetic material made

Answer 7

bacteria, computer generated DNA transported into cell

Question 8

what are cassettes

Answer 8

mobile genetic element - contains single small gene and recombination site

Question 9

how are the cassettes assembled

Answer 9

homologous recombination

Question 10

what did the creation of synthia help us to see/do/discover 3 things

Answer 10

• determine set of genes currently unknown
• modularise genes for each cell process - translation/replication
• helped define a minimum set of genetic functions essential for life

Question 11

name 4 essential/common parts

Answer 11

promotor
RBS - ribosomal binding site
protein coding sequences
terminator - usually occur at the end of a gene - cause transcription to stop

Question 12

what is the promotor

Answer 12

A sequence of DNA that recruits transcriptional material leading to transcription of downstream sequence

Question 13

what is the RBS

Answer 13

ribosomal binding site - ribosomes bind to this region and begin translation at the start code ATG

Question 14

what is the protein coding sequence

Answer 14

the sequence of DNA that gets transcribed into mRNA

Question 15

name 4 commonly used protein coding sequences and their functions

Answer 15

• reporters - flourescence - used to measure gene expresion
• transcriptional regulators - proteins involved in activation/repression
• selection markers - proteins conferring a selective advantage - a particular trait

Question 16

4 things we have to standardise in synthetic biology

Answer 16

• methods and parts
• nomenculture
• characterisation - constant information
• host cells and genetic backgrounds - for consistency in functionality of parts

Question 17

name an important device and what does it do

Answer 17

synthetic genetic toggle switches - 2 genes, to repressor proteins, arranged in a mutual inhibition network achieving bioinstability

Question 18

what is bioinstability

Answer 18

populations of identical bacteria can express different genes - heterogeneous