Distinguishing genelet circuit input pulses via a pulse detector

Chemical systems have the potential to direct the next generation of dynamic materials if they can be integrated with a material while acting as the material’s own regulatory network. Chemical networks that use DNA and RNA strand displacement coupled with RNA synthesis and degradation, such as genelets, are promising chemical systems for this role. Genelets can produce a range of dynamic behaviors that respond to unique sets of environmental inputs. While a number of networks that generate specific types of outputs which vary in both time and amplitude have been developed, there are fewer examples of networks that recognize specific types of inputs in time and amplitude. Advanced chemical circuits in biology are capable of reading a given substrate concentration with relatively high accuracy to direct downstream function, demonstrating that such a chemical circuit is possible. Taking inspiration from this, we designed a genelet circuit which responds to a range of inputs by delivering a binary output based on the input concentration, and tested the network’s performance using an in silico model of circuit behavior. By modifying the concentrations of two circuit elements, we demonstrated that such a network topography could yield various target input concentration profiles to which a given circuit is sensitive. The number of unique elements in the final network topography as well as the individual circuit element concentrations are commensurate with properties of circuits that have been demonstrated experimentally. These factors suggest that such a network could be built and characterized in the laboratory.