Synthetic Genomics | Annex
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function unnaturally or function much better than natural counterparts (Benner and Sismour, 2005; Endy,
2005). Synthetic biology is also interpreted as the engineering-driven building of increasingly complicated
biological entities (parts, devices, and systems) from simple and basic building blocks.
Voloshchuk and Montclare (2010)
Synthetic biology aims to engineer artificial biological systems with the ultimate goal of programming novel
cell and organism behaviour. This is being achieved via a bottom-up approach in which the key ‘‘parts’’ are
nucleic acids, metabolites and proteins.
Young and Alper (2010)
Synthetic biology is developing the tools and methods that will increase control over these interactions,
eventually resulting in an integrative synthetic biology that will allow ground-up cellular optimization.
Zheng and Sriram (2010)
Synthetic biology aims to design novel biological circuits for desired applications, implemented through the
assembly of biological parts including natural components of cells and artificial molecules that emulate
biological behavior [1, 2]. Because of its parts-to-whole approach, synthetic biology has a significant
engineering component. Engineering endeavors typically involve the three classical engineering strategies:
standardization (ensuring that components of a system are compatible and exchangeable), decoupling
(dissecting a system into less complicated subsystems), and abstraction (streamlining a problem to focus only
on the pertinent facets) [3–5].
De Lorenzo V (2010)
There is, therefore, a first brand of Synthetic Biology with an altogether scientific
agenda that takes aboard the
celebrated remark by the 1965 Nobel Prize winner in Physics Richard Feynman ‘‘. . . what I cannot create, I do
not understand ’’. Synthesis is understood here as the ultimate validation of a scientific hypothesis, and
therefore as a tool that belongs to the realm of fundamental science.
Robson Marsden and Kros (2010)
Synthetic biology aims to understand and harness the emergent properties of complex biological systems. As
discussed here, one approach towards this is the use of biological, or biologically inspired modules, for the
directed self-assembly of functional synthetic systems.
Khalil and Collins (2010)
As a result, synthetic biology was born with the broad goal of engineering or “wiring” biological circuitry—be it
genetic, protein, viral, pathway, or genomic—for manifesting logical forms of cellular control.
Purcell et al. (2010)
The aim of synthetic biology is to design and synthesize biological networks or devices that perform a desired
function in a predictable manner (Endy 2005; Andrianantoandro et al. 2006; Serrano 2007; Haseloff & Ajioka
2009)
Zhang and Jiang (2010)