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Research

Biological systems - including the simplest cells - exhibit a broad range of functions to thrive in their environment. Research in the Imperial College Centre for Synthetic Biology is focused on the possibility of engineering the underlying biochemical processes to solve many of the challenges facing society, from healthcare to sustainable energy. In particular, we model, analyse, design and build biological and biochemical systems in living cells and/or in cell extracts, both exploring and enhancing the engineering potential of biology.

As part of our research we develop novel methods to accelerate the celebrated Design-Build-Test-Learn synthetic biology cycle. As such research in the Centre for Synthetic Biology highly multi- and interdisciplinary covering computational modelling and machine learning approaches; automated platform development and genetic circuit engineering ; multi-cellular and multi-organismal interactions, including gene drive and genome engineering; metabolic engineering; in vitro/cell-free synthetic biology; engineered phages and directed evolution; and biomimetics, biomaterials and biological engineering.

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Meccariello:2019:10.1126/science.aax1318,
author = {Meccariello, A and Salvemini, M and Primo, P and Hall, B and Koskiniot, P and Dalikova, M and Gravina, A and Gucciar, MA and Forlenza, F and Gregoriou, ME and Ippolito, D and Monti, SM and Petrella, V and Perrotta, MM and Schmeing, S and Ruggiero, A and Scolari, F and Giordano, E and Tsoumani, KT and Marec, F and Windbichler, N and Nagaraju, J and Arunkumar, KP and Bourtzis, K and Mathiopoulos, KD and Ragoussis, J and Vitagliano, L and Tu, Z and Papathanos, PA and Robinson, MD and Saccone, G},
doi = {10.1126/science.aax1318},
journal = {Sciecnce},
pages = {1457--1460},
title = {Maleness-on-the-Y (MoY) orchestrates male sex determination in major agricultural fruit fly pests},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aax1318},
volume = {365},
year = {2019}
}

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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - In insects, rapidly evolving primary sex-determining signals are transduced by a conserved regulatory module controlling sexual differentiation. In the agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata (Mediterranean fruit fly, or Medfly), we identified a Y-linked gene, Maleness-on-the-Y (MoY), encoding a small protein that is necessary and sufficient for male development. Silencing or disruption of MoY in XY embryos causes feminization, whereas overexpression of MoY in XX embryos induces masculinization. Crosses between transformed XY females and XX males give rise to males and females, indicating that a Y chromosome can be transmitted by XY females. MoY is Y-linked and functionally conserved in other species of the Tephritidae family, highlighting its potential to serve as a tool for developing more effective control strategies against these major agricultural insect pests.
AU  - Meccariello,A
AU  - Salvemini,M
AU  - Primo,P
AU  - Hall,B
AU  - Koskiniot,P
AU  - Dalikova,M
AU  - Gravina,A
AU  - Gucciar,MA
AU  - Forlenza,F
AU  - Gregoriou,ME
AU  - Ippolito,D
AU  - Monti,SM
AU  - Petrella,V
AU  - Perrotta,MM
AU  - Schmeing,S
AU  - Ruggiero,A
AU  - Scolari,F
AU  - Giordano,E
AU  - Tsoumani,KT
AU  - Marec,F
AU  - Windbichler,N
AU  - Nagaraju,J
AU  - Arunkumar,KP
AU  - Bourtzis,K
AU  - Mathiopoulos,KD
AU  - Ragoussis,J
AU  - Vitagliano,L
AU  - Tu,Z
AU  - Papathanos,PA
AU  - Robinson,MD
AU  - Saccone,G
DO  - 10.1126/science.aax1318
EP  - 1460
PY  - 2019///
SN  - 0036-8075
SP  - 1457
TI  - Maleness-on-the-Y (MoY) orchestrates male sex determination in major agricultural fruit fly pests
T2  - Sciecnce
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aax1318
UR  - http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000488838600049&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
UR  - https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6460/1457
VL  - 365
ER  -