Tuning and functionalization of logic gates for time resolved programming of bacterial populations

Abstract

In order to increase our command over genetically engineered bacterial populations in bioprocessing and therapy, synthetic regulatory circuitry needs to enable the temporal programming of a number of consecutive functional tasks without external interventions. In this context, we have engineered a genetic circuit encoding an autonomous but chemically tunable timer in Escherichia coli, based on the concept of a transcription factor cascade mediated by the cytoplasmic dilution of repressors. As proof-of-concept, we used this circuit to impose a time-resolved two-staged synthetic pathway composed of a production-followed-by-lysis program, via a single input. Moreover, via a recombinase step, this synchronous timer was further engineered into an asynchronous timer in which the generational distance of differentiating daughter cells spawning off from a stem-cell like mother cell becomes a predictable driver and proxy for timer dynamics. Using this asynchronous timer circuit, a temporally defined population heterogeneity can be programmed in bacterial populations.