Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 5: Systems Biology & Gene Expression and Signalling

BP 5.6: Invited Talk

Monday, March 12, 2018, 16:15–16:45, H 1028

Synchronization of synthetic gene oscillators — •Lev Tsimring — BioCircuits Institute, University of California, San Diego

One of the defining characteristics of life is the ability to keep time, which organisms often achieve by using internal genetic "clocks'' to govern fundamental cellular behavior. While the gene networks that produce oscillatory expression signals are typically quite elaborate, certain recurring network motifs are often found at the core of these biological clocks. One common motif which leads to oscillations in many natural biological clocks is delayed auto-repression. We designed and constructed several synthetic gene circuits that use this motif, and observed robust "degrade-and-fire" oscillations of gene expression in bacteria E. coli. When gene oscillators in different cells are coupled by fast-diffusing chemical signals, they exhibit population-wide synchronization. We also predicted and observed intra-cellular synchronization of different gene oscillators indirectly coupled by a common degradation enzyme.