Optogenetics and biosensors set the stage for metabolic cybergenetics

• Published in: Current opinion in biotechnology Vol. 65; no. C
• Main Authors: Carrasco-López, César, García-Echauri, Sergio A., Kichuk, Therese, Avalos, José L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier 12.09.2020
• Subjects: BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
• ISSN: 0958-1669; 1879-0429

We report cybergenetic systems use computer interfaces to enable feed-back controls over biological processes in real time. The complex and dynamic nature of cellular metabolism makes cybergenetics attractive for controlling engineered metabolic pathways in microbial fermentations. Cybergenetics would not only create new avenues of research into cellular metabolism, it would also enable unprecedented strategies for pathway optimization and bioreactor operation and automation. Implementation of metabolic cybergenetics, however, will require new capabilities from actuators, biosensors, and control algorithms. The recent application of optogenetics in metabolic engineering, the expanding role of genetically encoded biosensors in strain development, and continued progress in control algorithms for biological processes suggest that this technology will become available in the not so distant future.