Simplified computational design of digital synthetic gene circuits

Abstract

One ultimate goal for synthetic biology is the complete computer-aided design of novel gene circuits. Here, we show how concepts and algorithms from electrical engineering can be exploited to set up a framework for the computational, automatic design of gene Boolean gates and devices. As in electrical engineering, the modular design of digital synthetic gene circuits can be automated via the Karnaugh map algorithm. However, differently from electronics, the circuit scheme corresponding to a Boolean formula is not unique since the wiring between gates can be established by transcription factors or small RNAs. In particular, we discuss a new, simplified version of our previous algorithm that is better tailored to wet-lab circuit implementation.