Synthetic Genomics | Annex
99
variety of novel devices, networks and pathways through rational recombination of modular DNA-encoded
biological parts”
Cardinale and Arkin (2012)
“One of the common goals of synthetic biology is to make the design of new function vastly more efficient,
safe, understandable, and predictable. This field is likely to have a profound impact on chemical,
pharmaceutical
and material manufacturing, environmental and agricultural engineering, and health.
Chen et al (2012)
“Synthetic biology is an emerging field of interdisciplinary research that seeks to transform our ability to
probe, manipulate, and interface with living systems by combining the knowledge and techniques of biology,
chemistry, computer science, and engineering. Its main aim is to increase the ease and efficiency with which
biological systems
can be designed,
constructed, and characterized”
Chiarabelli et al (2012)
Synthetic biology is first represented in terms of two complementary aspects, the bio-engineering one, based
on the genetic manipulation of extant microbial forms in order to obtain forms of life which do not exist in
nature; and the chemical synthetic biology, an approach mostly based on chemical manipulation for the
laboratory
synthesis
of
biological
structures
that
do
not
exist
in
nature.
(…)
The notion of synthetic biology (SB) is by now well accredited in
the experimental life sciences, and is generally
seen as the modern and most ambitious development of bioengineering and biotechnology in general. The
term ambitious is appropriate, as one of the declared aims of SB is the laboratory construction of alternative
forms of life, namely forms of life that do not exist in nature. The term life is till now still restricted to
microorganisms, and various aspects of this design have been described in the literature about microbes
capable of eventually producing fuels and energy for mankind, to the various genomic modifications of extant
microorganisms to enrich their functionality.
Danchin (2012)
The present avatar of «Synthetic Biology» (SB) assumes that we know enough of what life is to allow us to
construct life from scratch, or, at least, to modify existing cells and organisms so that they work as cell
factories. With this view SB puts together two separate entities, a program (the conceptual extension of the
genetic program) and a chassis (the conceptual extension of the living cell).
Firman et al. (2012)
One definition of Synthetic Biology is ‘‘the application of engineering principles to the study of the
fundamental components of biology’’, but there are major problems associated with this basic premise –
biological systems are very different from electronic systems, or chemical systems, and new combinations do
not always behave as expected
Giessen and Marahiel (2012)
It is in this light that synthetic biology, usually defined as the
de novo design of new or the redesign of existing
biological systems, ranging from single enzymes (protein engineering) to whole biosynthetic pathways
(metabolic engineering), offers new approaches and methodologies that may help to tackle this urgent
problem.
Hörner and Weber (2012)