teemi: An open-source literate programming approach for iterative design-build-test-learn cycles in bioengineering

PLoS Comput Biol. 2024 Mar 8;20(3):e1011929. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011929. eCollection 2024 Mar.

Abstract

Synthetic biology dictates the data-driven engineering of biocatalysis, cellular functions, and organism behavior. Integral to synthetic biology is the aspiration to efficiently find, access, interoperate, and reuse high-quality data on genotype-phenotype relationships of native and engineered biosystems under FAIR principles, and from this facilitate forward-engineering strategies. However, biology is complex at the regulatory level, and noisy at the operational level, thus necessitating systematic and diligent data handling at all levels of the design, build, and test phases in order to maximize learning in the iterative design-build-test-learn engineering cycle. To enable user-friendly simulation, organization, and guidance for the engineering of biosystems, we have developed an open-source python-based computer-aided design and analysis platform operating under a literate programming user-interface hosted on Github. The platform is called teemi and is fully compliant with FAIR principles. In this study we apply teemi for i) designing and simulating bioengineering, ii) integrating and analyzing multivariate datasets, and iii) machine-learning for predictive engineering of metabolic pathway designs for production of a key precursor to medicinal alkaloids in yeast. The teemi platform is publicly available at PyPi and GitHub.

MeSH terms

  • Bioengineering*
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Metabolic Engineering*
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae
  • Synthetic Biology

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability grant number NNF20CC0035580 and by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program grant agreement number 814645 (MIAMi) to M.K.J. N.S. acknowledges funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation under the Fermentation Based Biomanufacturing program (grant no. NNF17SA0031362). URLs: https://novonordiskfonden.dk/grant/ and https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/programmes/horizon The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Salary of S.P. was funded by European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program grant agreement number 814645 (MIAMi).