1月5日，国际著名杂志Nature刊登了国外研究人员的最新研究成果“A sensing array of radically coupled genetic ‘biopixels’。”，文章中，作者揭示了一种基于“生物像素”的传感器。
第一批合成生物振荡器（设计用来完成单一功能的转录调控因子网络）是仅仅在十年前才开发出来的。最近，使得通过细菌“群感效应”耦合在一起的一组这样的振荡器实现同步已经成为可能，但仅仅限于短距离同步。现在，通过将两个协同通信模式（过氧化氢气体的生成和氧化还原信号作用）结合在一起，Jeff Hasty及其同事使得分布在“群感效应”群落（或称之为“生物像素”）中、分布范围达几厘米、群体数量极大（大约5000万个细胞）的大肠杆菌实现了同步。这个阵列被用来构建一个像液晶显示器（LCD）一样的、宏观尺度的时钟，该时钟能够通过对振荡周期的调制来感应砷的存在。通过进一步开发，这种类型的“生物像素”也许会成为能够检测重金属和病原体的低成本基因生物传感器的基础。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1038/nature10722
PMC:
PMID:
A sensing array of radically coupled genetic ‘biopixels’
Arthur Prindle, Phillip Samayoa, Ivan Razinkov, Tal Danino, Lev S. Tsimring & Jeff Hasty
Although there has been considerable progress in the development of engineering principles for synthetic biology, a substantial challenge is the construction of robust circuits in a noisy cellular environment. Such an environment leads to considerable intercellular variability in circuit behaviour, which can hinder functionality at the colony level. Here we engineer the synchronization of thousands of oscillating colony ‘biopixels’ over centimetre-length scales through the use of synergistic intercellular coupling involving quorum sensing within a colony and gas-phase redox signalling between colonies. We use this platform to construct a liquid crystal display (LCD)-like macroscopic clock that can be used to sense arsenic via modulation of the oscillatory period. Given the repertoire of sensing capabilities of bacteria such as Escherichia coli, the ability to coordinate their behaviour over large length scales sets the stage for the construction of low cost genetic biosensors that are capable of detecting heavy metals and pathogens in the field.
