Technology or method
Recombinant DNA
DNA joined from different sources, the starting point of genetic engineering and of medicines such as recombinant insulin.
Synthetic biology
Designing and building new biological parts, circuits and systems.Source: Cameron et al., 2014
Step 1 of 8ReadingTechnology or methodEmerging research
How it works
Synthetic biologists design and build new biological parts and systems, a bit like engineers designing circuits.
Standardized genetic parts such as promoters and repressors are combined into circuits that switch, oscillate or sense. Whole metabolic pathways can be moved into microbes to make useful molecules.
Design-build-test cycles, DNA synthesis and modeling are used to engineer predictable behavior, which remains hard because of cellular context and noise.
- Used for
- Producing medicine precursors in microbes
- Biosensors
- Studying minimal life
Safety and ethics
Work with engineered organisms follows biosafety rules, and researchers also weigh biosecurity: the risk that knowledge or materials could be misused.
How Synthetic biology connects
Synthetic biology uses
Synthetic biology includes the example
Technology or method
Gene circuits
Engineered networks of genes that behave like switches or clocks. Landmark examples were built in bacteria in 2000.
Idea or model
Minimal cell
A cell stripped to the fewest genes it needs. One synthetic version runs on 473 genes, 149 of which had unknown functions.
Emerging researchTechnology or method
Metabolic engineering
Rewiring a microbe's chemistry to make useful molecules, such as a precursor of the antimalarial drug artemisinin in yeast.
Synthetic biology raises questions of
Ethics and safety
Biosafety
Risk-based practices and containment that protect people and the environment when working with biological agents.
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Sources & further reading
The explanations on this page are our own summaries of these sources. Follow a link to read the original; if anything here disagrees with it, the original wins. How we choose and check sources.
A brief history of synthetic biology (opens the original in a new tab)
Cameron DE, Bashor CJ, Collins JJ (2014). Nature Reviews Microbiology 12:381-390.
Peer-reviewedReviewConstruction of a genetic toggle switch in Escherichia coli (opens the original in a new tab)
Gardner TS, Cantor CR, Collins JJ (2000). Nature 403:339-342.
Two mutually repressing genes form a switch with two stable states.
Peer-reviewedPrimary researchA synthetic oscillatory network of transcriptional regulators (opens the original in a new tab)
Elowitz MB, Leibler S (2000). Nature 403:335-338.
The repressilator: three repressors wired in a loop produce oscillations.
Peer-reviewedPrimary researchHigh-level semi-synthetic production of the potent antimalarial artemisinin (opens the original in a new tab)
Paddon CJ, Westfall PJ, Pitera DJ, et al. (2013). Nature 496:528-532.
Peer-reviewedPrimary researchLaboratory biosafety manual, 4th edition (opens the original in a new tab)
World Health Organization (2020). WHO publications. World Health Organization. Published 2020-12-21.
GuidanceIntergovernmental source