ArticleCell2012
Designing synthetic regulatory networks capable of self-organizing cell polarization.
Article in Cell, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 117 papers.
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Who cites it
117 citing papers in PubMed.
- An adaptable, self-organizing, single-cell morphology circuit optimizes suctorian predatory trap structure.Current biology : CB · 2026Article
- Reconstitution of Ras-PI3Kγ membrane communication and feedback using light-induced signaling inputs.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Long-range mutual activation establishes Rho and Rac polarity during cell migration.Nature cell biology · 2026Article
- A novel reaction-diffusion architecture for engineering self-organized patterns in mammalian cells.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Developmentally inspired synthetic kidney engineering.Nature biotechnology · 2026Review
- Membrane composition-dependent patterning of Rho and F-actin in an artificial cell cortex.Molecular biology of the cell · 2026Article
- Noise-Guided Design of Synthetic Protein Waves in Living Cells.ACS synthetic biology · 2026Article
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- A self-organizing single-cell morphology circuit optimizesbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Decoding cell fate: integrated experimental and computational analysis at the single-cell level.Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) · 2025Review
- Reconstructing gene network structure and dynamics from single cell data.Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Cooperative short- and long-range interactions enable robust symmetry breaking and axis formation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Galvanin (TMEM154) is an electric-field sensor for directed cell migration.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Balancing reaction-diffusion network for cell polarization pattern with stability and asymmetry.eLife · 2025Article
- Construction and phenotypic classification of synthetic dual-pole Escherichia coli cells.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Synthetic Forms Most Beautiful: Engineering Insights into Self-Organization.Physiology (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Review
- Programming the elongation of mammalian cell aggregates with synthetic gene circuits.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Model supports asymmetric regulation across the intercellular junction for collective cell polarization.PLoS computational biology · 2024Article
- Synthetically programming natural cell-cell communication pathways for tissue engineering.Current opinion in biomedical engineering · 2024Article
57 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
How cells form global, self-organized structures using genetically encoded molecular rules remains elusive. Here, we take a synthetic biology approach to investigate the design principles governing cell polarization. First, using a coarse-grained computational model, we searched for all possible simple networks that can achieve polarization. All solutions contained one of three minimal motifs: positive feedback, mutual inhibition, or inhibitor with positive feedback. These minimal motifs alone could achieve polarization under limited conditions; circuits that combined two or more of these motifs were significantly more robust. With these design principles as a blueprint, we experimentally constructed artificial polarization networks in yeast, using a toolkit of chimeric signaling proteins that spatially direct the synthesis and degradation of phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PIP(3)). Circuits with combinatorial motifs yielded clear foci of synthetic PIP(3) that can persist for nearly an hour. Thus, by harnessing localization-regulated signaling molecules, we can engineer simple molecular circuits that reliably execute spatial self-organized programs.
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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.