EASAC
Realising European potential in synthetic biology | December 2010 | 5
The academies express their defi nition of synthetic biology
in different ways but they agree on a core meaning:
‘the deliberate (re)design and construction of novel
biological systems to perform new functions, that draws
on principles elucidated from biology and engineering’.
At present, most synthetic biology is focused on microbes
and embodies some key distinguishing characteristics:
• Synthetic biology is a convergent fi eld, still in its
infancy, incorporating knowledge from microbiology,
genetics, genomics, chemistry, physics and IT as well
as biology and engineering.
• It encompasses the hierarchy of biological structures
from individual molecules to cells, tissues and
organisms. A variety of entities is generated—parts,
devices, systems.
• The manipulation of sets of genes is now routine
in the leading international research centres. These
capabilities will become more widespread as ever
more rapid genome construction will become
possible by the continuing methodological innovation
and automation that is accelerating productivity and
scale and reducing the cost of oligonucleotide and
gene synthesis. Genome transplantation is likely to
continue to be a signifi cant rate-limiting step.
• Synthetic biology is free of the constraint on some
earlier DNA research methods that only used genetic
material from existing organisms.
• The design is intended to be rational and systematic.
The objective is to create functions that do not exist
in nature, but also to increase our understanding of
biology.
• Further advances in synthetic biology will be aided
by progressive understanding of the cell response to
engineering. The reaction of organisms to oppose
engineering presents a challenge to progress in some
areas.
There are differing views on whether synthetic biology
is a discrete fi eld and is radically different from what has
gone before. Is it revolutionary or merely an incremental
advance? Are the expectations of the fi eld unrealistically
high, given the challenges inherent in understanding
the complexity of living systems (Kwok 2010)? Some
researchers and commentators see it as a natural
and reasonable extension of genomics—a transition
from reading to writing genome sequences. Others
expect synthetic biology to be a truly transformational
technology. It can be diffi cult to distinguish some
current examples of synthetic biology unambiguously
from recombinant DNA technology in general; the
novel element in synthetic biology may often be one
of scale. This present uncertainty in assessment of
scope and impact of synthetic biology will be refl ected
in subsequent discussion in this report and represents
a challenge for identifying where new policy may be
needed.
Although the boundaries may be blurred, the
aspirations of synthetic biology in complex systems
can be distinguished from genetic engineering, in
that it more explicitly seeks to model and predict
the outcomes of the experiments. Conceptually,
synthetic biology aims to use components with
known functions (standardised constructs) to
design predictable systems. Synthetic biology with
its focus on engineering new functions can also
be distinguished from systems biology, where the
emphasis is on the description and analysis of the
dynamic interactions between components of a
biological system (Academy of Medical Sciences
and Royal Academy of Engineering 2007). However,
there will be many occasions when the integration of
synthetic and systems biology is necessary to advance
research and its applications (Anon 2010): the ability
to model and quantitatively predict biological effects
in systems biology is complemented by the aim in
synthetic biology to construct biological systems in
order to understand them.
2 Defi nition and relationships with other scientifi c disciplines
EASAC
Realising European potential in synthetic biology | December 2010 | 7
Recent market research
4
estimates that the current global
market for synthetic biology is approximately US $230
million, much of which is attributed to synthetic DNA
and other reagents and tools. The same market research
predicts that the world market could expand to US $2.4
billion by 2013, with the chemical and energy sectors
dominating.
Numerous specifi c applications have been postulated for
medicine, agriculture, environment, energy, materials
and national security—both new products and services
and more effi cient production platforms. The timetable
for delivery is not clear and much remains to be done
to translate the advances in fundamental science into
applications. It is notable that much of the discussion
about possible impact has been framed in terms of the
societal benefi ts rather than benefi ts to the producer.
In this sense, the proponents of synthetic biology have
learned a lesson from the poor uptake of an earlier
emerging technology in genetically modifi ed (GM)
agriculture, where public scepticism was based, in part,
on a lack of immediate evidence for consumer benefi t.
Some of the more likely applications are listed in Table 1.
As synthetic biology covers a broad technology domain,
it is not easy to forecast which societal applications
will surface fi rst although many commentators agree
in expecting biofuel products within the near future.
Synthetic biology can contribute to the objectives
for developing second-generation biofuels to avoid
competition with food production resources, for example
in generating ethanol from agricultural waste and plant
residues. A recent review (Sheridan 2009) lists some of
the leading, smaller, innovative companies who are using
advanced biological engineering to produce biofuels
(ethanol, diesel, algal oils); most of these examples are
from the USA although the UK and Denmark are also
represented
6
. It is debatable whether these early activities
can be considered to fall within mainstream defi nitions
of synthetic biology. However, there have also been
recent major advances in microbial engineering that
enable the consolidation of many key reactions within
a single strain of Escherichia coli to convert inexpensive
biomass into both fatty-acid-based fuels (biodiesel) and
other renewable chemicals. This recent work (Steen et al.
2010) demonstrates the reduction to practice for scalable,
controllable and, perhaps, economic routes to commercial
production. In addition to these advances in complex
microbial engineering, other synthetic biology approaches
to biofuel R&D may become viable over a longer time-
frame, for example to produce hydrogen from water
and solar energy using engineered microorganisms or
biomimetic catalysts.
Other examples of the applications listed in Table 1 will be
discussed in subsequent sections: in particular, there is a
considerable amount of European research focusing on
applications for the health sector.
4
‘Synthetic biology: emerging global markets’, BCC Research, USA (June 2009), cited by Nelson (2009).
5
Examples are drawn from the Academy outputs, POST (2008) and www.tessy-europe.eu. A recent review by Khalil and Collins
(2010) also provides detailed information on a broad range of applications. In addition to the medical applications listed in
Table 1, Khalil and Collins note the importance of synthetic biology approaches in devising new lead screening platforms and
for engineering organisms as novel anti-infective (phages) and anti-cancer agents (bacteria).
6
EU multinational companies such as Shell are also investing in algal oils. The European Algae Biomass Association (www.
eaba-association.eu) provides information on R&D activities, standards and product specifi cation and the legislative framework.
3 Envisaged societal applications
Table1 Examples of potential innovation
5
Societal impact
Proposed specifi c application
Medicine
Protein therapeutics, low-molecular weight drugs (e.g. antibiotics),
vaccines, gene therapy; controlled release drug delivery systems and
DNA-like polymers for location-specifi c drug release; tissue engineering;
rapid, sensitive in vitro diagnostic tests and multi-chip detection arrays.
Energy
New microbes for generating hydrogen and other energy; second-
generation biofuels; artifi cial photosynthesis.
Environment
Detection of pollutants; bioremediation.
Chemical industry
Improved production platforms for fi ne and bulk chemicals; microbes
engineered to produce proteins as alternative route to natural fi bre
manufacturing and 1,3-propanediol, precursor of artifi cial fi bres.
National security
Biological weapon sensors.
Agriculture
Food additives.
Biologically inspired nanomachines and biosensors
Molecular-scale switches and other devices.