Project Overview

The current growth in synthetic biology research promises more complex and useful engineered systems. However, increased complexity often requires more genetic material that can be difficult to introduce into organisms. We propose the development of a new library of regulatory gene expression elements that allow for compression of multiple coding sequences into a smaller amount of genetic space. Using a pseudoknot RNA structural motif, commonly used by viruses to minimize their genome size, we will show the utility of dual-coding gene sequences to give useful protein products whose expression can be regulated by the pseudoknot’s ability to induce ribosomal frameshifting. A software tool will also be used to zip multiple coding sequences into different reading frames. Ultimately, this library of standardized parts will be available for use in a variety of engineered systems requiring minimal coding space and multiple protein expression.