Gene Editing and Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology, which relies on the design and construction of genetic parts as well as testing the functionalities of these parts, has attracted a lot of attention from the industry and the general public. Recently, gene editing has become an indispensable tool in synthetic biology owing to its industrial applications and medical usage. In this special issue, Kalies et al. were able to use CRISPR/Cas9 for genome editing using gold nanoparticle-mediated laserporation, leading to significant improvements in genome editing efficiency. Nigel et al. applied genome editing methods for the production of natural products and chemicals by engineered E. coli, remarkably increasing product yield and diversity. Takano et al. utilized the “Three C's” of novel antibiotic discovery and production via synthetic biology approaches to discover biosynthetic gene clusters, construct heterologous chassis, and exploit synthetic microbial consortia. Chen et al. employed the halophilic Halomonas spp as a chassis for constructing various pathways to produce chemicals and materials under open and continuous fermentation conditions, significantly reducing the cost of bio-productions. Gene editing in the Halomonas spp. led to not only diverse products and enhanced productions but also enlarged shapes, allowing easy separation of microbial cells from the broths. Nikel et al. conducted similar studies to shape bacteria for designing more efficient microbial cell factories. In terms of the medical field, Leong et al. took advantage of the gene editing tool CRISPR to improve breast cancer treatment including diagnostics, modeling, and therapy. Rehm et al. were able to design bacterial inclusion bodies as antigen carrier systems for disease diagnostics and prevention. All of these studies based on gene editing and synthetic biology approaches have achieved successes in various degrees. It is expected that gene editing and synthetic biology will generate more commercial successes to benefit mankind at an increasingly rapid rate. Guo-Qiang Chen received his BSc and PhD from South China University of Technology in 1985 and Graz University of Technology (Austria) in 1989, respectively. He also conducted research during 1990–1994 as a postdoc at University of Nottingham in UK and University of Alberta in Canada, respectively. His research focuses on microbial materials polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) metabolic engineering and PHA biomaterials application. After joining Tsinghua University in 1994, he has been actively promoting the microbial biology and material industries in China. His technologies have been provided to several companies that succeeded in mass production of microbial PHA. Since 2014, he has been appointed as Chair Professor of Synthetic Biology, Manchester University/UK. In 2015, he became the Funding Director of the Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology in Tsinghua University.