Synthetic Approaches to Biology

Abstract

Nanobiotechnology and synthetic biology are emerging as novel fields that integrate research from science and technology to create novel organisms with new desired properties. We present here the new revolutionary methods of synthetic biology that enable us to engineer gene control circuits, edit genomes, and create de novo whole genomes. The creation of new genomes that function in the cell means that we can create new organisms that are different from those observed in nature. The synthetic genomes can contain novel combinations of genes that offer the opportunities to create novel biological species that possess predefined combination of properties. Therefore, the synthetic genomes can be regarded as a new kind of materials. The methods for whole genome assemble applied so far combined several in vitro and in vivo steps that possess certain technical limitations and shortcomings. In this chapter, we discuss all technical aspects of assembling novel genomes and their current limitations. The genome editing technologies that have been developed over the last several years based on the CRISPR-Cas system is also discussed. In addition, we present major RNA-based methods for design of gene control circuits both in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, including humans.