Phenotype Engineering

CD Biosynsis provides phenotype engineering services to facilitate the cutting-edge research of synthetic biology researchers around the world.

Introduction to Phenotype Engineering

Phenotype refers to the composite characteristics or traits observable in an organism. It is the translated feature and function of a certain genotype. An organism's phenotype can be affected by multiple genetic components, which are difficult to identify in many cases. It is manipulated largely through the accumulation of sequential mutations, which typically led to local rather than global optimizations of function. The recent explosion of sequence information and the rise of DNA construction and genome editing technologies have opened up a plethora of possibilities for engineering phenotypes involving much more complex networks of genetic components, and have facilitated the construction of multiple variants involving alterations to multiple genes within an organism.

The significance of designing phenotype can often be represented by the interaction between host cells and synthetic genes. Synthetic biology is based on the prediction, design, and engineering of biological systems and living organisms to achieve the specific purpose of improving biological research or industrial applications. Recently, the advance in synthetic biology, especially synthetic tools for phenotypic perturbation, has brought great innovations to phenotype engineering through the development of novel genetic parts that perform complex tasks. Furthermore, the discovery of biological parts with regulatory roles and the design of novel genetic circuits have promoted high-throughput screening and selection.

Figure 1. Engineering regulatory networks for complex phenotypes in E. coli. (Liu R, et al., 2020)

Service Offering

CD Biosynsis provides integrated solutions based on our phenotype engineering platform to accelerate synthetic biology researches. Our services include but not limited to the following:

Transcriptional Regulation Perturbation

To adapt cells to specific environments and states, multiple regulation factors can be used to regulate the metabolic network. Rewiring the innate regulation can lead cells to new phenotypes. CD Biosynsis provides advanced synthetic biology tools for transcriptional regulation perturbation to help obtain the desired phenotype.

Translational Regulation Perturbation

Translational regulation refers to the control of the level of proteins synthesized from mRNA. A wide range of expression levels should be covered to explore more diverse phenotypes. CD Biosynsis provides diverse synthetic biology tools for translational regulation perturbation to achieve specific purposes of phenotype engineering.

Regulatory Network Engineering for Complex Phenotypes

Regulatory networks composed of complex regulators interacting with genes/proteins can control the expression levels of hundreds or thousands of mRNAs and proteins, which describe the hierarchical relationship between transcription factors, associated proteins, and their target genes. CD Biosynsis provides expertise in regulatory network engineering for complex phenotypes.

CD Biosynsis is fully committed to providing our customers with tailored one-stop solutions to help them overcome the challenges in synthetic biology. Our scientists have the ability to bring diverse creative ideas to fruition. If you are interested in our services, please contact us for more details.

References

1. Liu R, et al. Engineering regulatory networks for complex phenotypes in E. coli. Nature communications, 2020, 11(1): 1-13.
2. Yang J, et al. Synthetic biology for evolutionary engineering: from perturbation of genotype to acquisition of desired phenotype. Biotechnology for biofuels, 2019, 12(1): 1-14.

Please note that all services are for research use only. Not intended for any clinical use.