Scientists build 'valves' in DNA to shape biological information flows

The valve controlling the genes. Credit: Thomas Gorochowski.

Scientists at the University of Bristol have developed new biological parts that can shape the flow of cellular processes.

The work, published in the journal Nature Communications, offers a new perspective on how information is stored in the human body.

Our survival is dependent on the existence of microorganisms, even though they are invisible to the naked eye. The code of life is what they operate using. We don't have a complete understanding of how to interpret DNA, but we have many tools that could be useful.

Matthew Tarnowski is a student in Bristol's School of Biological Sciences. You still need to read a lot of different DNA sequences to understand how it actually works, even though you can read a microbe's DNA with a sequencer. It's like trying to learn a new language from a few small fragments.

The Bristol team focused on how the information in DNA is read and how the flow of cellular processes are controlled. An ability to shape the biological information flows would offer a way to guide cellular behaviors.

Taking inspiration from nature, where it is known that flows on DNA are often complex and interwoven, the team focused on how they could be regulated by creating "valves" to tune the flow from one region to another.

The valves that control the rate that a liquid flows through a pipe are similar to the ones that shape the flow of genes. The ability to control the flow of information in the genomes allows us to reprogram the behavior of the cells.

It can take a long time to design new biological parts. To get around this problem, the team used methods to assembly many DNA parts in parallel and a technology based on 'nanopores' that allowed them to simultaneously measure how each part worked.

The ability to design the biological valves was unlocked through the use of the unique features of nanopore sequencing. We could assemble and test thousands in a mixed pool instead of building and testing a couple at a time.

The authors show how valves can be used to regulate other biological components in the cell, opening the way for simultaneous control of many genes and complex editing of genomes.

The team is looking at how this technology could be used in a responsible way. Dr. Mario Pansera, a researcher at the Post-Growth Innovation Lab at the University of Vigo, Spain, said: "Now that they have crafted these tools, a big question is how they can be used in the real world." Post-growth entrepreneurship offers useful approaches for imagining more deliberative and inclusive ways to put technology at the service of people.

Massively parallel characterization of transcript isoforms using directRNAsequencing, Nature Communications, 2022. There is a DOI of 10.1038/s41467-022-28074-5.

Nature Communications is a journal.

Scientists build 'valves' in DNA to shape biological information flows.

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