ArticleNature communications2020
Synthetic protein-binding DNA sponge as a tool to tune gene expression and mitigate protein toxicity.
Article in Nature communications, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Construction of synthetic protein-binding non-genetic DNA systems in living cells.Nature chemistry · 2026Article
- Programming Next-Generation Synthetic Biosensors by Genetic Circuit Design.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Whole-cell biosensors with regulatory circuits based on a synthetic dual-input promoter enabling the highly sensitive detection of ultra-trace CdSynthetic and systems biotechnology · 2026Article
- SUPER: Upcycling Genetic Parts for Precise Gene Expression Control, Leakage Minimization, and Genetic Circuit Stability.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Synthetic Biology of Plants and Microbes for Agriculture, Environment, and Future Applications.Chemical reviews · 2026Review
- Synthetic Whole-Cell Bioelectronic Chemical Sensing withChem & bio engineering · 2025Article
- Tuning the performance of a TphR-based terephthalate biosensor with a design of experiments approach.Metabolic engineering communications · 2024Article
- Toward predictable universal genetic circuit design.Quantitative biology (Beijing, China) · 2024Article
- Customizing cellular signal processing by synthetic multi-level regulatory circuits.Nature communications · 2023Review
- Engineered live bacteria as disease detection and diagnosis tools.Journal of biological engineering · 2023Review
- Context-Aware Technology Mapping in Genetic Design Automation.ACS synthetic biology · 2023Article
- Revealing the Host-Dependent Nature of an Engineered Genetic Inverter in Concordance with Physiology.Biodesign research · 2023Article
- Inducible plasmid copy number control for synthetic biology in commonly used E. coli strains.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Strategies for efficient production of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli: alleviating the host burden and enhancing protein activity.Microbial cell factories · 2022Review
- Bacterial degrons in synthetic circuits.Open biology · 2022Review
- A plasmid system with tunable copy number.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Dichotomous feedback: a signal sequestration-based feedback mechanism for biocontroller design.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2022Article
- SYMBIOSIS: synthetic manipulable biobricks via orthogonal serine integrase systems.Nucleic acids research · 2022Article
- Diverse role of decoys on emergence and precision of oscillations in a biomolecular clock.Biophysical journal · 2021Article
- A balancing act in transcription regulation by response regulators: titration of transcription factor activity by decoy DNA binding sites.Nucleic acids research · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Versatile tools for gene expression regulation are vital for engineering gene networks of increasing scales and complexity with bespoke responses. Here, we investigate and repurpose a ubiquitous, indirect gene regulation mechanism from nature, which uses decoy protein-binding DNA sites, named DNA sponge, to modulate target gene expression in Escherichia coli. We show that synthetic DNA sponges can be designed to reshape the response profiles of gene circuits, lending multifaceted tuning capacities including reducing basal leakage by >20-fold, increasing system output amplitude by >130-fold and dynamic range by >70-fold, and mitigating host growth inhibition by >20%. Further, multi-layer DNA sponges for decoying multiple regulatory proteins provide an additive tuning effect on the responses of layered circuits compared to single-layer sponges. Our work shows synthetic DNA sponges offer a simple yet generalizable route to systematically engineer the performance of synthetic gene circuits, expanding the current toolkit for gene regulation with broad potential applications.
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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.