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Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access published online on February 3, 2009
Nucleic Acids Research, doi:10.1093/nar/gkp014
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© 2009 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Methods Online

A synthetic mammalian electro-genetic transcription circuit

Wilfried Weber1, Stefan Luzi1, Maria Karlsson1, Carlota Diaz Sanchez-Bustamante1, Urs Frey1, Andreas Hierlemann1 and Martin Fussenegger1,*

1ETH Zurich, Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, Mattenstrasse 26, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +41 61 387 31 60; Fax: +41 61 387 39 88; Email: fussenegger{at}bsse.ethz.ch

Received October 15, 2008. Revised December 15, 2008. Accepted January 7, 2009.

Electric signal processing has evolved to manage rapid information transfer in neuronal networks and muscular contraction in multicellular organisms and controls the most sophisticated man-built devices. Using a synthetic biology approach to assemble electronic parts with genetic control units engineered into mammalian cells, we designed an electric power-adjustable transcription control circuit able to integrate the intensity of a direct current over time, to translate the amplitude or frequency of an alternating current into an adjustable genetic readout or to modulate the beating frequency of primary heart cells. Successful miniaturization of the electro-genetic devices may pave the way for the design of novel hybrid electro-genetic implants assembled from electronic and genetic parts.

Present address: Carlota Diaz Sanchez-Bustamante, Kuros Biosurgery AG, Technoparkstrasse 1, CH-8005 Zurich, Switzerland


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