ArticleNature2011
Robust multicellular computing using genetically encoded NOR gates and chemical 'wires'.
Article in Nature, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 295 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
295 citing papers in PubMed, 798 citations in OpenAlex.
- Review
- Quantitative Measurement of Synthetic Repression Curves Reveals Design Challenges for Genetic Circuit Engineering under Growth Arrest.ACS synthetic biology · 2026Article
- Living circuit boards built by printing bacterial transistors.Nature chemical biology · 2026Article
- Living Microbial Drugs.Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Review
- Deep Learning Predicts Dissimilar DNA-DNA Binding and Engineers Hyperconnected Networks.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Multi-gene Co-expression systems inSynthetic and systems biotechnology · 2026Review
- Microbial medicines: Unlocking the therapeutic potential of the microbiome in cancer treatment.Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society · 2026Review
- Context-aware synthetic promoter design using neural networks enables rewiring of eukaryotic transcriptional networks.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2026Article
- Nanomaterials as electrochemical regulators of bacterial biofilms through the modulation of extracellular electron transport and ion channels.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2026Review
- Harnessing synthetic biology for energy-efficient bioinspired electronics: applications for logarithmic data converters.Communications engineering · 2026Article
- SUPER: Upcycling Genetic Parts for Precise Gene Expression Control, Leakage Minimization, and Genetic Circuit Stability.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- An Analysis of the Governance, Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Biocomputing.Science and engineering ethics · 2026Article
- Base gap switches as transcriptional regulators and their applications as biosensors.Nature sensors · 2026Article
- Mammalian synthetic gene circuits for biopharmaceutical development & manufacture.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2025Review
- Repurposing the bacterial surface display technology for drug delivery.Advanced drug delivery reviews · 2025Review
- Engineering wetware and software for the predictive design of compressed genetic circuits for higher-state decision-making.Nature communications · 2025Article
- A Quasi-Stationary Distribution Bound for Fault Analysis in Gene Regulatory Networks.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Gene circuit-based sensors.Fundamental research · 2025Review
- High-Resolution Patterned Delivery of Chemical Signals From 3D-Printed Picoliter Droplet Networks.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2025Article
- Why cellular computations challenge our design principles.Seminars in cell & developmental biology · 2025Review
235 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Computation underlies the organization of cells into higher-order structures, for example during development or the spatial association of bacteria in a biofilm. Each cell performs a simple computational operation, but when combined with cell-cell communication, intricate patterns emerge. Here we study this process by combining a simple genetic circuit with quorum sensing to produce more complex computations in space. We construct a simple NOR logic gate in Escherichia coli by arranging two tandem promoters that function as inputs to drive the transcription of a repressor. The repressor inactivates a promoter that serves as the output. Individual colonies of E. coli carry the same NOR gate, but the inputs and outputs are wired to different orthogonal quorum-sensing 'sender' and 'receiver' devices. The quorum molecules form the wires between gates. By arranging the colonies in different spatial configurations, all possible two-input gates are produced, including the difficult XOR and EQUALS functions. The response is strong and robust, with 5- to >300-fold changes between the 'on' and 'off' states. This work helps elucidate the design rules by which simple logic can be harnessed to produce diverse and complex calculations by rewiring communication between cells.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.