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The centrality of RNA for engineering gene expression
Author(s) -
Chappell James,
Takahashi Melissa K.,
Meyer Sarai,
Loughrey David,
Watters Kyle E.,
Lucks Julius
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.144
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1860-7314
pISSN - 1860-6768
DOI - 10.1002/biot.201300018
Subject(s) - rna , computational biology , synthetic biology , gene expression , biology , translation (biology) , gene , function (biology) , regulation of gene expression , transcription (linguistics) , messenger rna , computer science , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , linguistics , philosophy
Synthetic biology holds promise as both a framework for rationally engineering biological systems and a way to revolutionize how we fundamentally understand them. Essential to realizing this promise is the development of strategies and tools to reliably and predictably control and characterize sophisticated patterns of gene expression. Here we review the role that RNA can play towards this goal and make a case for why this versatile, designable, and increasingly characterizable molecule is one of the most powerful substrates for engineering gene expression at our disposal. We discuss current natural and synthetic RNA regulators of gene expression acting at key points of control – transcription, mRNA degradation, and translation. We also consider RNA structural probing and computational RNA structure predication tools as a way to study RNA structure and ultimately function. Finally, we discuss how next‐generation sequencing methods are being applied to the study of RNA and to the characterization of RNA's many properties throughout the cell.