Synthetic biology articles from across Nature Portfolio

Cas12 nucleases can use guide DNA instead of guide RNA, which switches their targets from DNA to RNA.

L-valine is an essential amino acid for animal nutrition that can be produced through aerobic fermentation. Here the authors engineer E. coli for growth-coupled L-valine production under anaerobic conditions achieving a yield of 0.55 g/g glucose, 85% of the theoretical maximum.

T7 RNA polymerase is widely used in synthetic biology, but tools to precisely regulate it are limited. Here, authors engineer a modular T7 RNAP regulatory toolbox for programmable repression, activation and biosensing, enabling gene circuit design and biosensors in cell-free systems.

Reverse transcription PCR is widely used but often suffers from unreliable primer selection. Here, the authors introduce Primer PICKR, a database that ranks primers using literature data, achieving near-perfect amplification success for high-scoring pairs and improving reproducibility.

Selection in a population of synthetic cells is enabled by coupling enzymatic activity to DNA self-replication.

Culex mosquitoes drive the spread of West Nile virus, yet controlling their populations remains challenging. Here, authors develop a self-limiting CRISPR-based genetic approach that converts female mosquitoes into sterile intersexes, enabling effective and confined population suppression.

Genetic code expansion can be limited by the need to supply non-standard amino acids. The authors design bacteria that perform integrated steps of converting supplemented aldehydes to L-phenylalanine derivatives and incorporating them within proteins.

Cas12 nucleases can use guide DNA instead of guide RNA, which switches their targets from DNA to RNA.

The entrepreneur was also a pioneer of synthetic biology.

Can synthetic biology provide food security in a changing climate?

Synthetic biologists are engineering bacteria to feast on oil, plastic and toxic chemicals.

Venter redrew the boundaries of biology — sequencing DNA at unprecedented speed, engineering synthetic life and charting ocean microbes.

AI-guided redesign of protein alphabet in bacteria could unlock new ways to build synthetic organisms.