5. Synthetic biology for engineering

Abstract

While it may be expected that medicine and chemistry will have potential uses for synthetic biology, it is less obvious that the field might be relevant to the inorganic engineering of buildings, bridges, and computers. Nevertheless, the responsiveness of biological systems and tiny scale of their constituent molecules do have the potential to solve major problems (and perhaps create some new ones). ‘Synthetic biology for engineering’ focuses on three aspects of the use of synthetic biology in modern engineering: construction, computing, and communication. It discusses the use of bacteria spores to ‘heal’ cracks in concrete; data storage in DNA; DNA-based computers; and the use of DNA in cryptography.