Next generation synthetic memory via intercepting recombinase function

Nat Commun. 2023 Aug 29;14(1):5255. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-41043-w.

Abstract

Here we present a technology to facilitate synthetic memory in a living system via repurposing Transcriptional Programming (i.e., our decision-making technology) parts, to regulate (intercept) recombinase function post-translation. We show that interception synthetic memory can facilitate programmable loss-of-function via site-specific deletion, programmable gain-of-function by way of site-specific inversion, and synthetic memory operations with nested Boolean logical operations. We can expand interception synthetic memory capacity more than 5-fold for a single recombinase, with reconfiguration specificity for multiple sites in parallel. Interception synthetic memory is ~10-times faster than previous generations of recombinase-based memory. We posit that the faster recombination speed of our next-generation memory technology is due to the post-translational regulation of recombinase function. This iteration of synthetic memory is complementary to decision-making via Transcriptional Programming - thus can be used to develop intelligent synthetic biological systems for myriad applications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Chromosome Inversion*
  • Humans
  • Intelligence*
  • Nonoxynol
  • Recombinases / genetics
  • Technology

Substances

  • Nonoxynol
  • Recombinases