Cellular signaling networks act as the central processor to deal with environmental signals and regulate cell function, and determine cell fate. Using synthetic biology approach to engineer cell signaling networks is crucial for ultimately constructing man-made "cell machines". Cellular signaling networks can encode sophisticated cell information by processing quantitatively signaling dynamics, which enables multi-dimensional regulation of functional sub-circuits. Here, we first review the research progresses on the signaling coding mechanisms; and then elaborate the methodologies and applications of cells signaling engineering; finally, we envision that signaling-based cell engineering are important for the increasingly-complicated next generation synthetic biology.
细胞信号网络是细胞应对环境变化、调控细胞功能以及决定细胞命运的中央处理器。运用合成生物学方法，人工设计细胞信号网络对于“细胞机器”的构建具有重要作用。信号网络通过编码定量的动力学信号，能够在多个维度对细胞工程中的多个子功能单元进行调控。本文介绍了天然信号网络的动力学功能的研究进展，阐述了基于信号网络的功能蛋白质设计的合成生物学相关的方法和思路，并展望了信号网络在下一代合成生物学中的战略意义。.
Keywords: biological networks; cell engineering; signaling circuits; signaling dynamics; synthetic biology.