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Ranganath VA, Maity I. Artificial Homeostasis Systems Based on Feedback Reaction Networks: Design Principles and Future Promises. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2024; 63:e202318134. [PMID: 38226567 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202318134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2023] [Revised: 01/15/2024] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 01/17/2024]
Abstract
Feedback-controlled chemical reaction networks (FCRNs) are indispensable for various biological processes, such as cellular mechanisms, patterns, and signaling pathways. Through the intricate interplay of many feedback loops (FLs), FCRNs maintain a stable internal cellular environment. Currently, creating minimalistic synthetic cells is the long-term objective of systems chemistry, which is motivated by such natural integrity. The design, kinetic optimization, and analysis of FCRNs to exhibit functions akin to those of a cell still pose significant challenges. Indeed, reaching synthetic homeostasis is essential for engineering synthetic cell components. However, maintaining homeostasis in artificial systems against various agitations is a difficult task. Several biological events can provide us with guidelines for a conceptual understanding of homeostasis, which can be further applicable in designing artificial synthetic systems. In this regard, we organize our review with artificial homeostasis systems driven by FCRNs at different length scales, including homogeneous, compartmentalized, and soft material systems. First, we stretch a quick overview of FCRNs in different molecular and supramolecular systems, which are the essential toolbox for engineering different nonlinear functions and homeostatic systems. Moreover, the existing history of synthetic homeostasis in chemical and material systems and their advanced functions with self-correcting, and regulating properties are also emphasized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vinay Ambekar Ranganath
- Centre for Nano and Material Sciences, Jain (Deemed-to-be University), Jain Global Campus, Bangalore, 562112, Karnataka, India
| | - Indrajit Maity
- Centre for Nano and Material Sciences, Jain (Deemed-to-be University), Jain Global Campus, Bangalore, 562112, Karnataka, India
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2
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Schaffter SW, Chen KL, O'Brien J, Noble M, Murugan A, Schulman R. Standardized excitable elements for scalable engineering of far-from-equilibrium chemical networks. Nat Chem 2022; 14:1224-1232. [PMID: 35927329 DOI: 10.1038/s41557-022-01001-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2021] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Engineered far-from-equilibrium synthetic chemical networks that pulse or switch states in response to environmental signals could precisely regulate the kinetics of chemical synthesis or self-assembly. Currently, such networks must be extensively tuned to compensate for the different activities of and unintended reactions between a network's various chemical components. Modular elements with standardized performance could be used to rapidly construct networks with designed functions. Here we develop standardized excitable chemical regulatory elements, termed genelets, and use them to construct complex in vitro transcriptional networks. We develop a protocol for identifying >15 interchangeable genelet elements with uniform performance and minimal crosstalk. These elements can be combined to engineer feedforward and feedback modules whose dynamics match those predicted by a simple kinetic model. Modules can then be rationally integrated and organized into networks that produce tunable temporal pulses and act as multistate switchable memories. Standardized genelet elements, and the workflow to identify more, should make engineering complex far-from-equilibrium chemical dynamics routine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel W Schaffter
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Kuan-Lin Chen
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Jackson O'Brien
- Department of Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Madeline Noble
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Arvind Murugan
- Department of Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Rebecca Schulman
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. .,Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. .,Department of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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Schnitter F, Rieß B, Jandl C, Boekhoven J. Memory, switches, and an OR-port through bistability in chemically fueled crystals. Nat Commun 2022; 13:2816. [PMID: 35595758 PMCID: PMC9122941 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30424-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2022] [Accepted: 04/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to store information in chemical reaction networks is essential for the complex behavior we associate with life. In biology, cellular memory is regulated through transcriptional states that are bistable, i.e., a state that can either be on or off and can be flipped from one to another through a transient signal. Such memory circuits have been realized synthetically through the rewiring of genetic systems in vivo or through the rational design of reaction networks based on DNA and highly evolved enzymes in vitro. Completely bottom-up analogs based on small molecules are rare and hard to design and thus represent a challenge for systems chemistry. In this work, we show that bistability can be designed from a simple non-equilibrium reaction cycle that is coupled to crystallization. The crystals exert the necessary feedback on the reaction cycle required for the bistability resulting in an on-state with assemblies and an off-state without. Each state represents volatile memory that can be stored in continuously stirred tank reactors indefinitely even though molecules are turned over on a minute-timescale. We showcase the system’s abilities by creating a matrix display that can store images and by creating an OR-gate by coupling several switches together. In biology, information is stored and processed using highly evolved molecules in bistable states. Here, the authors demonstrate bistability in a synthetic system without the need for evolved biomolecules or autocatalytic networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabian Schnitter
- Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Munich, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, 85748, Garching, Germany
| | - Benedikt Rieß
- Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Munich, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, 85748, Garching, Germany
| | - Christian Jandl
- Catalysis Research Centre, Technical University of Munich, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, 85748, Garching, Germany
| | - Job Boekhoven
- Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Munich, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, 85748, Garching, Germany. .,Institute for Advanced Study, Technical University of Munich, Lichtenbergstrasse 2a, 85748, Garching, Germany.
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Kriukov DV, Koyuncu AH, Wong ASY. History Dependence in a Chemical Reaction Network Enables Dynamic Switching. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2022; 18:e2107523. [PMID: 35257479 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202107523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2021] [Revised: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
This work describes an enzymatic autocatalytic network capable of dynamic switching under out-of-equilibrium conditions. The network, wherein a molecular fuel (trypsinogen) and an inhibitor (soybean trypsin inhibitor) compete for a catalyst (trypsin), is kept from reaching equilibria using a continuous flow stirred tank reactor. A so-called 'linear inhibition sweep' is developed (i.e., a molecular analogue of linear sweep voltammetry) to intentionally perturb the competition between autocatalysis and inhibition, and used to demonstrate that a simple molecular system, comprising only three components, is already capable of a variety of essential neuromorphic behaviors (hysteresis, synchronization, resonance, and adaptation). This research provides the first steps in the development of a strategy that uses the principles in systems chemistry to transform chemical reaction networks into platforms capable of neural network computing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitrii V Kriukov
- Department of Molecules and Materials, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, Enschede, 7522 NH, The Netherlands
| | - A Hazal Koyuncu
- Department of Molecules and Materials, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, Enschede, 7522 NH, The Netherlands
| | - Albert S Y Wong
- Department of Molecules and Materials, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, Enschede, 7522 NH, The Netherlands
- MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, Enschede, 7522 NH, The Netherlands
- BRAINS (Center for Brain-inspired Nano Systems), University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, Enschede, 7522 NH, The Netherlands
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Abstract
Spatial organisation through localisation/compartmentalisation of species is a ubiquitous but poorly understood feature of cellular biomolecular networks. Current technologies in systems and synthetic biology (spatial proteomics, imaging, synthetic compartmentalisation) necessitate a systematic approach to elucidating the interplay of networks and spatial organisation. We develop a systems framework towards this end and focus on the effect of spatial localisation of network components revealing its multiple facets: (i) As a key distinct regulator of network behaviour, and an enabler of new network capabilities (ii) As a potent new regulator of pattern formation and self-organisation (iii) As an often hidden factor impacting inference of temporal networks from data (iv) As an engineering tool for rewiring networks and network/circuit design. These insights, transparently arising from the most basic considerations of networks and spatial organisation, have broad relevance in natural and engineered biology and in related areas such as cell-free systems, systems chemistry and bionanotechnology. Complex biomolecular networks are fundamental to the functioning of living systems, both at the cellular level and beyond. In this paper, the authors develop a systems framework to elucidate the interplay of networks and the spatial localisation of network components.
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Pogodaev AA, Lap TT, Huck WTS. The Dynamics of an Oscillating Enzymatic Reaction Network is Crucially Determined by Side Reactions. CHEMSYSTEMSCHEM 2020. [DOI: 10.1002/syst.202000033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Aleksandr A. Pogodaev
- Institute for Molecules and Materials Radboud University Heyendaalseweg 135 Nijmegen 6525 AJ The Netherlands
| | - Tijs T. Lap
- Institute for Molecules and Materials Radboud University Heyendaalseweg 135 Nijmegen 6525 AJ The Netherlands
| | - Wilhelm T. S. Huck
- Institute for Molecules and Materials Radboud University Heyendaalseweg 135 Nijmegen 6525 AJ The Netherlands
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On the importance of reaction networks for synthetic living systems. Emerg Top Life Sci 2019; 3:517-527. [DOI: 10.1042/etls20190016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2019] [Revised: 08/14/2019] [Accepted: 08/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The goal of creating a synthetic cell necessitates the development of reaction networks which will underlie all of its behaviours. Recent developments in in vitro systems, based upon both DNA and enzymes, have created networks capable of a range of behaviours e.g. information processing, adaptation and diffusive signalling. These networks are based upon reaction motifs that when combined together produce more complex behaviour. We highlight why it is inevitable that networks, based on enzymes or enzyme-like catalysts, will be required for the construction of a synthetic cell. We outline several of the challenges, including (a) timing, (b) regulation and (c) energy distribution, that must be overcome in order to transition from the simple networks we have today to much more complex networks capable of a variety of behaviours and which could find application one day within a synthetic cell.
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Huck J, Kosikova T, Philp D. Compositional Persistence in a Multicyclic Network of Synthetic Replicators. J Am Chem Soc 2019; 141:13905-13913. [PMID: 31403776 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b06697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
The emergence of collections of simple chemical entities that create self-sustaining reaction networks, embedding replication and catalysis, is cited as a potential mechanism for the appearance on the early Earth of systems that satisfy minimal definitions of life. In this work, a functional reaction network that creates and maintains a set of privileged replicator structures through auto- and cross-catalyzed reaction cycles is created from the pairwise combinations of four reagents. We show that the addition of individual preformed templates to this network, representing instructions to synthesize a specific replicator, induces changes in the output composition of the system that represent a network-level response. Further, we establish through sets of serial transfer experiments that the catalytic connections that exist between the four replicators in this network and the system-level behavior thereby encoded impose limits on the compositional variability that can be induced by repeated exposure to instructional inputs, in the form of preformed templates, to the system. The origin of this persistence is traced through kinetic simulations to the properties and inter-relationships between the critical ternary complexes formed by the auto- and crosscatalytic templates. These results demonstrate that in an environment where there is no continuous selection pressure the network connectivity, described by the catalytic relationships and system-level interactions between the replicators, is persistent, thereby limiting the ability of this network to adapt and evolve.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jürgen Huck
- School of Chemistry and EaStCHEM , University of St Andrews , North Haugh , St Andrews , Fife KY16 9ST , U.K
| | - Tamara Kosikova
- School of Chemistry and EaStCHEM , University of St Andrews , North Haugh , St Andrews , Fife KY16 9ST , U.K
| | - Douglas Philp
- School of Chemistry and EaStCHEM , University of St Andrews , North Haugh , St Andrews , Fife KY16 9ST , U.K
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Schaffter SW, Schulman R. Building in vitro transcriptional regulatory networks by successively integrating multiple functional circuit modules. Nat Chem 2019; 11:829-838. [PMID: 31427767 DOI: 10.1038/s41557-019-0292-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2018] [Accepted: 06/13/2019] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
The regulation of cellular dynamics and responses to stimuli by genetic regulatory networks suggests how in vitro chemical reaction networks might analogously direct the dynamics of synthetic materials or chemistries. A key step in developing genetic regulatory network analogues capable of this type of sophisticated regulation is the integration of multiple coordinated functions within a single network. Here, we demonstrate how such functional integration can be achieved using in vitro transcriptional genelet circuits that emulate essential features of cellular genetic regulatory networks. By successively incorporating functional genelet modules into a bistable circuit, we construct an integrated regulatory network that dynamically changes its state in response to upstream stimuli and coordinates the timing of downstream signal expression. We use quantitative models to guide module integration and develop strategies to mitigate undesired interactions between network components that arise as the size of the network increases. This approach could enable the construction of in vitro networks capable of multifaceted chemical and material regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel W Schaffter
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Rebecca Schulman
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. .,Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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Abstract
IMPACT STATEMENT Advances in the understanding of the biophysics of membranes, the nonenzymatic and enzymatic polymerization of RNA, and in the design of complex chemical reaction networks have led to a new, integrated way of viewing the shared chemistry needed to sustain life. Although a protocell capable of Darwinian evolution has yet to be built, the seemingly disparate pieces are beginning to fit together. At the very least, better cellular mimics are on the horizon that will likely teach us much about the physicochemical underpinnings of cellular life.
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Rong HJ, Yang CF, Chen T, Xu ZG, Su TD, Wang YQ, Ning BK. Iodine-catalyzed guanylation of amines withN,N′-di-Boc-thiourea. Org Biomol Chem 2019; 17:9280-9283. [DOI: 10.1039/c9ob02014d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Iodine-catalyzed guanylation of amines withN,N′-di-Boc-thiourea is especially useful for both electronically and sterically deactivated primary anilines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao-Jie Rong
- Modern Chemistry Research Institute of Xi'an
- Xi'an 710065
- China
- Department of Chemistry & Materials Science
- Northwest University
| | - Cui-Feng Yang
- Modern Chemistry Research Institute of Xi'an
- Xi'an 710065
- China
| | - Tao Chen
- Modern Chemistry Research Institute of Xi'an
- Xi'an 710065
- China
| | - Ze-Gang Xu
- Modern Chemistry Research Institute of Xi'an
- Xi'an 710065
- China
| | - Tian-Duo Su
- Modern Chemistry Research Institute of Xi'an
- Xi'an 710065
- China
| | - Yong-Qiang Wang
- Department of Chemistry & Materials Science
- Northwest University
- Xi'an 710069
- China
| | - Bin-Ke Ning
- Modern Chemistry Research Institute of Xi'an
- Xi'an 710065
- China
- State Key Laboratory of Fluorine & Nitrogen Chemicals
- Xi'an 710065
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12
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Helwig B, van Sluijs B, Pogodaev AA, Postma SGJ, Huck WTS. Bottom-Up Construction of an Adaptive Enzymatic Reaction Network. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.201806944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Britta Helwig
- Radboud University; Institute for Molecules and Materials; Heyendaalseweg 135 6525 AJ Nijmegen The Netherlands
| | - Bob van Sluijs
- Radboud University; Institute for Molecules and Materials; Heyendaalseweg 135 6525 AJ Nijmegen The Netherlands
| | - Aleksandr A. Pogodaev
- Radboud University; Institute for Molecules and Materials; Heyendaalseweg 135 6525 AJ Nijmegen The Netherlands
| | - Sjoerd G. J. Postma
- Radboud University; Institute for Molecules and Materials; Heyendaalseweg 135 6525 AJ Nijmegen The Netherlands
| | - Wilhelm T. S. Huck
- Radboud University; Institute for Molecules and Materials; Heyendaalseweg 135 6525 AJ Nijmegen The Netherlands
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Helwig B, van Sluijs B, Pogodaev AA, Postma SGJ, Huck WTS. Bottom-Up Construction of an Adaptive Enzymatic Reaction Network. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2018; 57:14065-14069. [DOI: 10.1002/anie.201806944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2018] [Revised: 08/13/2018] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Britta Helwig
- Radboud University; Institute for Molecules and Materials; Heyendaalseweg 135 6525 AJ Nijmegen The Netherlands
| | - Bob van Sluijs
- Radboud University; Institute for Molecules and Materials; Heyendaalseweg 135 6525 AJ Nijmegen The Netherlands
| | - Aleksandr A. Pogodaev
- Radboud University; Institute for Molecules and Materials; Heyendaalseweg 135 6525 AJ Nijmegen The Netherlands
| | - Sjoerd G. J. Postma
- Radboud University; Institute for Molecules and Materials; Heyendaalseweg 135 6525 AJ Nijmegen The Netherlands
| | - Wilhelm T. S. Huck
- Radboud University; Institute for Molecules and Materials; Heyendaalseweg 135 6525 AJ Nijmegen The Netherlands
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Semenov SN, Ainla A, Skorb EV, Postma SGJ. Four-Variable Model of an Enzymatic Oscillator Based on Trypsin. Isr J Chem 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/ijch.201700146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sergey N. Semenov
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology; Harvard University; 12 Oxford Street MA 02138 USA
- Institute for Molecules and Materials; Radboud University Nijmegen; Heyendaalseweg 135 6525 AJ Nijmegen The Netherlands
- Department of Organic Chemistry; Weizmann Institute of Science; Rehovot 76100 Israel
| | - Alar Ainla
- INL - International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory; Avenida Mestre José Veiga s/n 4715-330 Braga Portugal
| | - Ekaterina V. Skorb
- SCAMT Laboratory; ITMO University; St. Petersburg 197101 Russian Federation
| | - Sjoerd G. J. Postma
- Institute for Molecules and Materials; Radboud University Nijmegen; Heyendaalseweg 135 6525 AJ Nijmegen The Netherlands
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