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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{Wen:2020:10.1002/biot.201900284,
author = {Wen, Z and Lu, M and Ledesma-Amaro, R and Li, Q and Jin, M and Yang, S},
doi = {10.1002/biot.201900284},
journal = {Biotechnology Journal},
pages = {1--14},
title = {TargeTron technology applicable in solventogenic clostridia: Revisiting 12 years’ advances},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/biot.201900284},
volume = {15},
year = {2020}
}

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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Clostridium has great potential in industrial application and medical research. But low DNA repair capacity and plasmids transformation efficiency severely delayed development and application of genetic tools based on homologous recombination (HR). TargeTron is a gene editing technique dependent on the mobility of group II introns, rather than homologous recombination, which made it very suitable for gene disruption of Clostridium. The application of TargeTron technology in Clostridium was academically reported in 2007 and this tool has been introduced in various clostridia as it is easy to operate, time-saving, and reliable. TargeTron has made great progress in solventogenic Clostridium in the aspects of acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation pathway modification, important functional genes identification, and xylose metabolic pathway analysis & reconstruction. In the review, we revisited 12 years' advances of TargeTron technology applicable in solventogenic Clostridium, including its principle, technical characteristics, application and efforts to expand its capabilities, or to avoid potential drawbacks. Some other technologies as putative competitors or collaborators are also discussed. We believe that TargeTron combined with CRISPR/Cas-assisted gene/base editing and gene-expression regulation system will make a better future for clostridial genetic modification.
AU  - Wen,Z
AU  - Lu,M
AU  - Ledesma-Amaro,R
AU  - Li,Q
AU  - Jin,M
AU  - Yang,S
DO  - 10.1002/biot.201900284
EP  - 14
PY  - 2020///
SN  - 1860-6768
SP  - 1
TI  - TargeTron technology applicable in solventogenic clostridia: Revisiting 12 years’ advances
T2  - Biotechnology Journal
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/biot.201900284
UR  - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31475782
UR  - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/biot.201900284
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/73195
VL  - 15
ER  -