Evolving Genetic Networks for Synthetic Biology

Abstract

The sibling disciplines, systems and synthetic biology, are engaged in unraveling the complexity of the biological networks. One is trying to understand the design principle of the existing networks while the other is trying to engineer artificial gene networks with predicted functions. The significant and important role that computational intelligence can play to steer the life engineering discipline towards its ultimate goal, has been acknowledged since its time of birth. However, as the field is facing many challenges in building complex modules/systems from the simpler parts/devices, whether from scratch or through redesign, the role of computational assistance becomes even more crucial. Evolutionary computation, falling under the broader domain of artificial intelligence, is well-acknowledged for its near optimal solution seeking capability for poorly known and partially understood problems. Since the post genome period, these natural-selection simulating algorithms are playing a noteworthy role in identifying, analyzing and optimizing different types of biological networks. This article calls attention to how evolutionary computation can help synthetic biologists in assembling larger network systems from the lego-like parts.