噬菌体重组酶系统在合成生物学中的应用*

合成生物学技术采用工程化设计理念,对生物体进行有目标的设计、改造乃至重新合成,对重塑非自然功能的“人造生命”具有重要意义。噬菌体重组系统具有高效、精确和广谱适用性等特点,在基因工程、代谢工程以及生物治疗等合成生物学领域得到了广泛的应用。从基因电路、体内遗传改造和体外重组等方面全面阐述了噬菌体重组系统在合成生物学研究的现状及热点,对当前该系统的局限性进行了探讨,并就未来的研究和发展趋势进行了展望。

Application of Phage Recombinase Systems in Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology is an emerging filed that aims to de novo design and synthesis of biological functional modules, gene circuits or artificial life with the standardized bioparts based on engineering principles. Since its inception in 1998, phage recombinase-mediated site-specific recombination, also known as recombineering, has revolutionized synthetic biology. Due to high efficiency, high precision, and broad-spectrum applicability, phage recombinases have been developed into powerful synthetic biology tools such as gene editing, DNA assembly, and gene-directed insertion. Yet, some applications, such as gene circuits, biocomputing, and biotherapy, need controlled excision, and this requires the number of well-characterized integrases and RDFs. Here, the classification and applicability of phage recombinases and focused on the application of phage recombinase systems in gene circuits design and construction, in vivo genetic modification and in vitro recombination were briefly introduced. Besides, the challenges of phage recombinase as tools for genetic engineering and sophisticated gene expression regulation as well as prospects for phage recombinases were analyzed.