Synthetic Biology: Volume 1 (SPR - Synthetic Biology (Volume 1))

Synthetic biology is a new area of biological research that combines science and engineering in order to design and build novel biological functions and systems. The definition of synthetic biology has been generally accepted as the engineering of biology: the synthesis of complex, biologically based (or inspired) systems, which display functions that do not exist in nature. This engineering perspective may be applied at all levels of the hierarchy of biological structures from individual molecules to whole cells, tissues and organisms. As with any multi-disciplinary field, there is an immense and rapidly-growing body of literature concerning synthetic biology, with several dedicated journals now available. However, locating the best information, or identifying the hottest topics can be time-consuming. This Specialist Periodical Report presents critical and comprehensive reviews of the recent literature in themed chapters prepared by invited authors from across the globe. The series editors are active in the field, ensuring that the most valuable information is presented in an authoritative manner. Annotation Synthetic Biology (SB) is a revolutionary discipline with a vast range of practical applications, but is SB research really based on engineering principles? Does it contributing to the artificial synthesis of life or does it utilise approaches sufficiently advanced to fall outside the scope of biotechnology or metabolic engineering? This volume reviews the development of SB and includes the major milestones of the discipline, the 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' approaches towards the construction of an artificial cell and the development of the "iGEM" competition. We conclude that SB is an emerging field with extraordinary technological potential, but that most research projects actually are an extension of metabolic engineering since the complexity of living organisms, their tight dependence on evolution and our limited knowledge of the interactions between the molecules, actually make life difficult to engineer Content: Designer Bases, Pairs, and Genetic Sets; Light driven synthesis of bioactive natural products in the chloroplast; Synthetic engineering at biointerfaces; Chemical synthetic biology; Synthetic vectors for nucleic acid delivery; Bioactive synthetic self-assemblies; Cell-free protein synthesis and molecular cloning; Self-assembling scaffolds for regenerative medicine; Protein sensors; RNA synthetic biology; Cell-like liposomes integrated with microfluidic technology for synthetic biology; The role of directed evolution in synthetic biology; Viruses as building blocks in functional materials Leading researchers draw on the recent literature in Synthetic Biology, from both dedicated journals and broader sources, making this an essential reference to any library supporting this research in this emerging field.