Software to Program Bacteria Coming Soon!

An important aspect of biotechnology is modifying the genomes of various useful micro organisms. These genetically modified microbes are then used for a large number of beneficial purposes ranging from bio-fuels to drugs and even for treating oil spills in seas. However this process is purely based on trial and error basis which sometimes leads to excessive expenditure and more time in the research. So an associate professor, Christopher Voigt, at the University of California, San Francisco has provided a unique idea to overcome this barrier. Crazy as it may sound; this researcher believes that he can develop software which can build genetic circuits within the bodies of these microbes. With the help of this software, designing a microbe for a specific task will be similar to writing an algorithm! Imagine biological engineers designing circuits for genes, proteins and other biomolecules at a level of abstraction.

The genetic circuits mentioned are nothing but path along which the various biomolecules are consumed, broken down, and transformed into commercially useful products e.g. decomposing sugar molecules into fuel. Voigt is in the 2^nd year of his research, has completed making some basic circuit units inside E.coli with the help of his colleagues and is working with biotech giants Life Technologies in California. They have completed building logical NOR gates inside these bacteria with each cell containing 1 gate. You all must be knowing that NOR gates are universal gates and any digital circuit can be completed by simply arranging these gates. His work published in the journal Nature stated that they can improve the quality of output and the efficiency by making the bacteria cells collectively. Voigt has designed bacterial circuits to hook into natural bacterial communication systems called quorum sensing, so that the cells can "vote" on an output. This increases the quality of the computation performed.

This advanced technology is a huge step forward in the field of biotech engineering which points towards efficient harnessing the power of micro organisms. Life Technologies wish to include the software modules designed by Voigt and his associates into their Vector NTI software as soon as possible. This will make the process of genetic design very simple.