Genetic circuits (toggle switch, repressilator), CRISPR (Cas9/12/13), base editing, prime editing.
Synthetic Biology
Genetic circuit
Engineered regulatory network performing a defined computational task (sensor, memory, oscillator, logic). Standardised parts (promoters,…
Genetic toggle switch
Gardner-Cantor-Collins 2000 bistable switch: two mutually repressing transcription factors. Proof-of-principle for synthetic bistability;…
Repressilator
Elowitz-Leibler 2000 three-node cyclic-repression oscillator (LacI → TetR → λCI → LacI). Produces noisy ~2 h period oscillations in E.…
CRISPR-Cas9
Bacterial adaptive-immunity endonuclease repurposed for programmable genome editing. sgRNA guides Cas9 to target; DSB → NHEJ/HR.…
Base editor
Liu lab 2016/2017: Cas9-nickase fused to cytidine or adenine deaminase enables C→T (CBE) or A→G (ABE) single-base edits without DSB.…
Prime editing
Anzalone-Liu 2019: Cas9-nickase + reverse transcriptase + pegRNA. Writes arbitrary small edits via 3′-extended guide RNA template. Broader…
BioBrick standard
Standardised DNA assembly parts with defined prefix/suffix restriction sites. iGEM registry. Enabled modular part sharing before…
Gibson assembly
Isothermal one-pot assembly of overlapping DNA fragments using exonuclease + polymerase + ligase. Gibson 2009; enables rapid cloning of…
Minimal genome
Mycoplasma-based chassis with ~500 essential genes (JCVI-syn3.0, 2016). Defines the lower bound of cellular life; platform for adding…
Expanded genetic code
Unnatural base pairs (dX-dY of Hachimoji DNA) + orthogonal tRNA/aaRS pairs enable unnatural amino acids + novel genetic codes. Schultz,…
Genetic toggle switch (Gardner-Collins) bistability
Gardner-Cantor-Collins 2000 dual-repressor toggle: dx/dt = α₁/(1+y^β) - x; dy/dt = α₂/(1+x^γ) - y. For β,γ > 1 system has two stable + one…
Repressilator (Elowitz-Leibler oscillator)
Elowitz-Leibler 2000: 3-node cyclic repressor ring (LacI⊣TetR⊣cI⊣LacI) realises oscillator with Hopf bifurcation at high loop gain. Period…
Toggle (Collins 2000)
Gardner-Cantor-Collins 2000 toggle-switch; foundational synthetic-biology genetic-circuit; modern memory + decision modules.
Repressilator (Elowitz-Leibler 2000)
Elowitz-Leibler 2000 3-node oscillator; modern improved-stability Potvin-Trottier 2016 + 100s-of-cycles.
BioBricks (Knight 2003)
T Knight 2003 BioBrick standard; iGEM 2003+ student competition; modern SynBioHub + Open Enzyme Collection.
Minimal genome (Venter 2010)
Venter 2010 'Synthetic Cell' Mycoplasma + 2016 JCVI-syn3.0 473 genes minimal; modern genome-engineering + cell-design.
Prime editing (Anzalone 2019)
Anzalone-Liu 2019 prime-editing; modern PE-Cas9 + reverse-transcriptase fusion; 100x precision over base-editing.
Cellular logic (Tan 2009)
Tan-Marguet-You 2009 cellular-logic-gates; modern Voigt-lab toolkit + multi-input AND/OR/NOT cascades.
Repressilator (Elowitz 2000)
M Elowitz-S Leibler 2000 + toggle-switch Gardner 2000; modern foundational gene-circuit; modern logic-gate combinatorial circuits.
Synthetic Mycoplasma (Venter 2010)
C Venter-D Hutchison 2010 + 2016 JCVI-syn3.0 473-gene minimal-genome; modern modern Mycoplasma-mycoides chemical-synthesis.
CRISPR (Zhang 2013)
F Zhang-L Cong 2013 mammalian-CRISPR; modern Cas12 + 2024 prime-editing + base-editing + EpiEdit + 2024 CRISPR-MS-Cellectis FDA.
XNA (Pinheiro 2012)
V Pinheiro 2012 + Holliger XNA xeno-nucleic-acid; modern HNA + TNA + 2024 SynPhys 6-letter genetic-code expansion synthorgs.
Orthogonal translation (Chin 2003)
J Chin 2003 + Schultz 2001 orthogonal-tRNA / aaRS; modern 4-base-codon + multi-ncAA + 2024 orthogonal-ribosome platform.
Metabolic engineering (Keasling 2003)
J Keasling 2003 artemisinin-biosynthesis E. coli; modern Sanofi semi-synthetic-artemisinin + Amyris farnesene + 2024 platform-chassis.