10. SYNCHRONIZATION OF GENETIC OSCILLATORS IN E. COLI

Department: Bioengineering
Faculty Advisor(s): Jeff Hasty

Primary Student
Name: Tal Danino
Email: tdanino@ucsd.edu
Phone: 858-822-3858
Grad Year: 2011

Student Collaborators
Octavio Mondragon, omondrag@ucsd.edu

Abstract
One of the goals of synthetic biology is to design and construct synthetic networks and understand their dynamics and function. To this end, our lab previously constructed and characterized a synthetic E. coli gene network which produces oscillations due to positive and negative feedback loops. After a few cell divisions, the oscillations of proteins between neighboring cells lose synchrony and a wide variability in oscillation phase is seen across a population. For this study, we experimentally constructed intercellular quorum sensing circuits that enable a population of cells to synchronize. The designs allow for cells to communicate their phases via the luxIR system from Vibrio Fischeri. The luxI synthase produces a small molecule, AHL, which can diffuse to neighboring cells and induce the luxI promoter. Cells are monitored in microfluidic devices which can continually supply media to cells for long periods of time and allow for AHL to be externally flushed away at a given flow rate. We find that the synchronization design requires a critical density of cells to produce oscillations. In addition, as cells grow outwardly from their starting point, they produce spatially periodic waves of fluorescence due to the propagation of AHL. We discuss modeling and experimental results for the spatio-temporal dynamics of our synchronization design for genetic oscillators.

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