Synthetic Counter (iGem2005 ETH Zurich)

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Abstract. We report here the design and implementation in vivo of a gene circuit that can count up to 4. In essence, it uses two toggle switches, each storing 1 bit, to keep track of the 4 states. The design of the counter is highly modular, with the hope that it can be included as a unit in larger circuits, and also combined with further counter instances to keep track of a much larger number of states, up to (2^(n+1)) with n units. To facilitate further developments and integration to other projects, the counter is available in form of BioBricks. The availability of a counter enables the execution of sequential instructions, and paves the way for the execution of artifical programs inside living cells.


Contents

Introduction

The past few years have seen the emergence of the field of synthetic biology, in which functional units are designed and built into cells to generate a particular behaviour, and ultimately to better understand Life's mechanisms. Previous efforts include the creation of gene circuits that generate oscillating behaviour (Elowitz00), toggle switch functionality (Atkinson03), artificial cell-cell communication (Bulter04) or pattern-forming behaviour (Basu2005). The present document describes the design and realization of a gene circuit that counts to 4.

Design of the Counter

The counter u

Here, we need an image based on "counter_layered_start_phase.png", where the circuit has to

To counter is made of two parts, serially linked:

  • the "Input" module, which splits the input into two opposite signals.
  • the "NOR" module, which keeps track of the changes in those signals.

The design of both parts has been made using the [http://partsregistry.org/cgi/htdocs/AbstractionHierarchy/index.cgi abstraction hierarchy] developped by the team of the MIT Registry of Parts, in particular using the concept of polymerase per second ("PoPS") as metric for all interfaces.


Input Module

NOR Module

Methods

Results and Discussion

Applications and Perspecitves

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