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Cell Cycle Oscillators pp 185–199Cite as

Building a Synthetic Transcriptional Oscillator

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Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1342))

Abstract

Reaction circuits mimicking genetic oscillators can be realized with synthetic, switchable DNA genes (so-called genelets), and two enzymes only, an RNA polymerase and a ribonuclease. The oscillatory behavior of the genelets is driven by the periodic production and degradation of RNA effector molecules. Here, we describe the preparation, assembly, and testing of a synthetic, transcriptional two-node negative-feedback oscillator, whose dynamics can be followed in real-time by fluorescence read-out.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through the Cluster of Excellence Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM) and by NSF grants CMMI-1266402 and CCF-131729.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Systems Biophysics and Bionanotechnology, Physik Department and WSI/ZNN, Technische Universität München, Am Coulombwall 4a, 85748, Garching, Germany

    Matthaeus Schwarz-Schilling, Maximilian Weitz & Friedrich C. Simmel

  2. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Jongmin Kim

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Christian Cuba & Elisa Franco

Authors
  1. Matthaeus Schwarz-Schilling
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  2. Jongmin Kim
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  3. Christian Cuba
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  4. Maximilian Weitz
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  5. Elisa Franco
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  6. Friedrich C. Simmel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Friedrich C. Simmel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

    Amanda S. Coutts

  2. Scientific writer, London, United Kingdom

    Louise Weston

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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Schwarz-Schilling, M., Kim, J., Cuba, C., Weitz, M., Franco, E., Simmel, F.C. (2016). Building a Synthetic Transcriptional Oscillator. In: Coutts, A., Weston, L. (eds) Cell Cycle Oscillators. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1342. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2957-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2957-3_10

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-2956-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2957-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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