A synthetic distributed genetic multi-bit counter
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1-s2.0-S2589004221014978-main.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
6.33 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
25fcd580df2303027dc9b8228a1d66d1
Author(s)
Chen, Tianchi
Ali Al-Radhawi, M
Voigt, Christopher A
Sontag, Eduardo D
Date Issued
2021
Journal
iScience
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Citation
Chen, Tianchi, Ali Al-Radhawi, M, Voigt, Christopher A and Sontag, Eduardo D. 2021. "A synthetic distributed genetic multi-bit counter." iScience, 24 (12).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
A design for genetically encoded counters is proposed via repressor-based circuits. An N-bit counter reads sequences of input pulses and displays the total number of pulses, modulo 2 N . The design is based on distributed computation with specialized cell types allocated to specific tasks. This allows scalability and bypasses constraints on the maximal number of circuit genes per cell due to toxicity or failures due to resource limitations. The design starts with a single-bit counter. The N-bit counter is then obtained by interconnecting (using diffusible chemicals) a set of N single-bit counters and connector modules. An optimization framework is used to determine appropriate gate parameters and to compute bounds on admissible pulse widths and relaxation (inter-pulse) times, as well as to guide the construction of novel gates. This work can be viewed as a step toward obtaining circuits that are capable of finite automaton computation in analogy to digital central processing units.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ISCI.2021.103526
