Pub Date : 2018-07-26DOI: 10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0003
J. Davies
The world faces a number of pressing environmental challenges: limited resources; limited space; loss of biodiversity; pollution of land, water, and air; and the impact of climate change thought to be driven by air pollution and by altered land use. Synthetic biology is being seen by many as a potentially powerful tool to be used in solving some of these problems in combination with other technical, social, and legislative advances. ‘Synthetic biology and the environment’ considers examples of synthetic biology approaches to environmental protection including reduction of greenhouse gas production, more efficient agricultural land use, detection of pollution, and bio-remediation of polluted environments, and discusses the barriers to commercial application.
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Pub Date : 2018-07-26DOI: 10.1093/ACTRADE/9780198803492.003.0006
J. Davies
Synthetic biology has been built on the foundations of a vast amount of fundamental knowledge about how genes, proteins, and living cells and tissues work. It is now paying back its debt to science by providing sophisticated tools for analysis of natural systems, and testing hypotheses and ideas. ‘Synthetic biology for basic research’ presents a few examples from many, including how synthetic biology is being used as a tool for enquiry in neuroscience and embryology, and its importance in verifying that we understand biology as well as we think we do. An example of a large-scale synthetic biology experiment designed to test hypotheses about genomes is the Yeast 2.0 project.
{"title":"6. Synthetic biology for basic research","authors":"J. Davies","doi":"10.1093/ACTRADE/9780198803492.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ACTRADE/9780198803492.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"Synthetic biology has been built on the foundations of a vast amount of fundamental knowledge about how genes, proteins, and living cells and tissues work. It is now paying back its debt to science by providing sophisticated tools for analysis of natural systems, and testing hypotheses and ideas. ‘Synthetic biology for basic research’ presents a few examples from many, including how synthetic biology is being used as a tool for enquiry in neuroscience and embryology, and its importance in verifying that we understand biology as well as we think we do. An example of a large-scale synthetic biology experiment designed to test hypotheses about genomes is the Yeast 2.0 project.","PeriodicalId":315654,"journal":{"name":"Synthetic Biology: A Very Short Introduction","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121380816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-07-26DOI: 10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0001
J. Davies
Synthetic biology—the creation of new living systems by design—is a rapidly growing area of science and technology that is attracting attention well beyond the laboratory and is provoking vigorous public debate. ‘Biology: from analysis to synthesis’ explains that the most general definition of synthetic biology works by dividing biology as a whole into analytic and synthetic branches. Synthetic biology is a broad subject partly because of the way it is defined, and partly because it has two distinct and independent historical roots: one intellectually driven and running deep into 19th-century natural philosophy, and the other more practically orientated and emerging from late 20th-century biotechnology.
{"title":"1. Biology: from analysis to synthesis","authors":"J. Davies","doi":"10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0001","url":null,"abstract":"Synthetic biology—the creation of new living systems by design—is a rapidly growing area of science and technology that is attracting attention well beyond the laboratory and is provoking vigorous public debate. ‘Biology: from analysis to synthesis’ explains that the most general definition of synthetic biology works by dividing biology as a whole into analytic and synthetic branches. Synthetic biology is a broad subject partly because of the way it is defined, and partly because it has two distinct and independent historical roots: one intellectually driven and running deep into 19th-century natural philosophy, and the other more practically orientated and emerging from late 20th-century biotechnology.","PeriodicalId":315654,"journal":{"name":"Synthetic Biology: A Very Short Introduction","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116002896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-07-26DOI: 10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0008
J. Davies
Science is not an isolated enterprise: it is affected by and affects broader society and culture. Synthetic biology has changed aspects of education; stimulated artists, writers, and film-makers; and caught the interest of philosophers, ethicists, campaigners, and legislators. ‘Cultural impact’ gives a taste of the wider political, artistic, and cultural implications of synthetic biology. It also considers the fears and hopes that arise from these new technologies. Most speculation about synthetic biology takes an optimistic view of the good that may come from an ability to engineer living things. In the near future, there is much that can be done for the fields of energy, environment, medicine, and engineering.
{"title":"8. Cultural impact","authors":"J. Davies","doi":"10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"Science is not an isolated enterprise: it is affected by and affects broader society and culture. Synthetic biology has changed aspects of education; stimulated artists, writers, and film-makers; and caught the interest of philosophers, ethicists, campaigners, and legislators. ‘Cultural impact’ gives a taste of the wider political, artistic, and cultural implications of synthetic biology. It also considers the fears and hopes that arise from these new technologies. Most speculation about synthetic biology takes an optimistic view of the good that may come from an ability to engineer living things. In the near future, there is much that can be done for the fields of energy, environment, medicine, and engineering.","PeriodicalId":315654,"journal":{"name":"Synthetic Biology: A Very Short Introduction","volume":"146 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114110114","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-07-26DOI: 10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0004
J. Davies
‘Synthetic biology and healthcare’ explains how synthetic biology can be applied to medicine: it can be used to produce drugs and new vaccines; improve monitoring and diagnosis; and it is just starting to be used to modify human cells with properties designed to help patients. In a research context, it is being applied to building new tissues. For most medical applications, there is no risk of the engineered organisms ‘running wild’ in the general environment; risk is restricted to specific patients who already have a problem that needs to be solved. In general, therefore, medicine is a field in which synthetic biology may make its earliest significant real-world contributions.
{"title":"4. Synthetic biology and healthcare","authors":"J. Davies","doi":"10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"‘Synthetic biology and healthcare’ explains how synthetic biology can be applied to medicine: it can be used to produce drugs and new vaccines; improve monitoring and diagnosis; and it is just starting to be used to modify human cells with properties designed to help patients. In a research context, it is being applied to building new tissues. For most medical applications, there is no risk of the engineered organisms ‘running wild’ in the general environment; risk is restricted to specific patients who already have a problem that needs to be solved. In general, therefore, medicine is a field in which synthetic biology may make its earliest significant real-world contributions.","PeriodicalId":315654,"journal":{"name":"Synthetic Biology: A Very Short Introduction","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116833401","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-07-26DOI: 10.1093/ACTRADE/9780198803492.003.0005
J. Davies
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.
{"title":"5. Synthetic biology for engineering","authors":"J. Davies","doi":"10.1093/ACTRADE/9780198803492.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ACTRADE/9780198803492.003.0005","url":null,"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.","PeriodicalId":315654,"journal":{"name":"Synthetic Biology: A Very Short Introduction","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115009482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-07-26DOI: 10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0007
J. A. Davies
Synthetic biology has ‘two souls’, one focused on engineering new features into existing life, the other aiming to create life de novo. The goal of creating life is arguably far more significant in terms of long-term scientific and philosophical impact. ‘Creating life’ considers the approach to creating life from the bottom up, starting with simple chemicals and taking only inspirations from existing living things. So far, self-reproducing catalytic cycles have been generated that produce molecules of modest complexity from simple precursors. Those working on containment have made self-reproducing membrane vesicles, albeit ones requiring somewhat complex starting molecules. What seems not yet to have been done is to join these concepts.
{"title":"7. Creating life","authors":"J. A. Davies","doi":"10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"Synthetic biology has ‘two souls’, one focused on engineering new features into existing life, the other aiming to create life de novo. The goal of creating life is arguably far more significant in terms of long-term scientific and philosophical impact. ‘Creating life’ considers the approach to creating life from the bottom up, starting with simple chemicals and taking only inspirations from existing living things. So far, self-reproducing catalytic cycles have been generated that produce molecules of modest complexity from simple precursors. Those working on containment have made self-reproducing membrane vesicles, albeit ones requiring somewhat complex starting molecules. What seems not yet to have been done is to join these concepts.","PeriodicalId":315654,"journal":{"name":"Synthetic Biology: A Very Short Introduction","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124008216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-07-26DOI: 10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0002
J. Davies
Synthetic biology depends on technologies for reading and writing DNA sequences of genes. Modification is almost always done at the genetic level because genes are heritable, needing to be engineered only once. ‘How synthetic biology is done’ describes the processes of sequencing DNA and DNA synthesis. Sequencing DNA is important for two main reasons: to analyse natural genes and natural gene-controlling regions of DNA; and to verify the correctness of DNA we have tried to write. The design of synthetic constructs is also considered along with the use of synthetic biology libraries; how the synthetic system is loaded into a living cell; and the potential issues of cross-talk and orthogonality.
{"title":"2. How synthetic biology is done","authors":"J. Davies","doi":"10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780198803492.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"Synthetic biology depends on technologies for reading and writing DNA sequences of genes. Modification is almost always done at the genetic level because genes are heritable, needing to be engineered only once. ‘How synthetic biology is done’ describes the processes of sequencing DNA and DNA synthesis. Sequencing DNA is important for two main reasons: to analyse natural genes and natural gene-controlling regions of DNA; and to verify the correctness of DNA we have tried to write. The design of synthetic constructs is also considered along with the use of synthetic biology libraries; how the synthetic system is loaded into a living cell; and the potential issues of cross-talk and orthogonality.","PeriodicalId":315654,"journal":{"name":"Synthetic Biology: A Very Short Introduction","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132513664","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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