Engineering Gene Control Circuits with Allosteric Ribozymes in Human Cells as a Medicine of the Future

Abstract

Systems and synthetic biology promise to develop new approaches for analysis and design of complex gene expression regulatory networks in living cells with many practical applications to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. In this chapter the development of novel universal strategies for exogenous control of gene expression is discussed. They are based on designer allosteric ribozymes that can function in the cell. The synthetic riboswitches are obtained by a patented computational procedure that provides fast and accurate modular designs with various Boolean logic functions. The riboswitches can be designed to sense in the cell either the presence or the absence of disease indicative RNA(s) or small molecules, and to switch on or off the gene expression of any exogenous protein. In addition, the riboswitches can be engineered to induce RNA interference or microRNA pathways that can conditionally down regulate the expression of key proteins in the cell. That can prevent a disease’s development. Therefore, the presented synthetic riboswitches can be used as truly universal cellular biosensors. Nowadays, disease indicative RNA(s) can be precisely identified by employing next-generation sequencing technologies with high accuracy . The methods can be employed not only for exogenous control of gene expression but also for re-programming the cell fate, anticancer, and antiviral gene therapies. Such approaches may be employed as potent molecular medicines of the future.