The ability to rationally engineer microorganisms has been a long-envisioned goal dating
back more than a half-century. With the genomics revolution and rise of systems biology in …

For over 60 years, the synthetic production of new DNA sequences has helped researchers
understand and engineer biology. Here we summarize methods and caveats for the de novo …

Cells navigate environments, communicate and build complex patterns by initiating gene
expression in response to specific signals. Engineers seek to harness this capability to …

Legumes obtain nitrogen from air through rhizobia residing in root nodules. Some species of
rhizobia can colonize cereals but do not fix nitrogen on them. Disabling native regulation …

Comparative analyses of natural and mutated sequences have been used to probe
mechanisms of gene expression, but small sample sizes may produce biased outcomes. We …

Large genetic engineering projects require more cistrons and consequently more strong and
reliable transcriptional terminators. We have measured the strengths of a library of …

Transcription of highly expressed genes has been shown to occur in stochastic bursts. But
the origin of such ubiquitous phenomenon has not been understood. Here, we present the …

Engineered genetic systems are prone to failure when their genetic parts contain repetitive
sequences. Designing many nonrepetitive genetic parts with desired functionalities remains …

Coexpression of proteins in response to pathway-inducing signals is the founding paradigm
of gene regulation. However, it remains unexplored whether the relative abundance of co …

Non-conventional yeasts have attracted increasing interest due to their biochemical
characteristics and potential applications. Yarrowia lipolytica is a non-conventional yeast …