Team:Peking/Project/Communication/Future

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<h3 id="title1">Perspective of photo-printing</h3>
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<h3 class="title1">Prospective</h3>
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<p>Photo-printing is not only a simple demonstration in our project, but it may also play an important part in biofilm formation, providing an interface between physical environmental factors and organisms, as well as a vital inducer in highly organized biomaterial formation. For the first time, our project demonstrated that photo-printing is feasible even in weak and incoherent light.<br /><br />
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Biofilms are an aggregation of cells in which they adhere together on a surface. Previous studies mainly focused on chemical-induced biofilm formation. Their limitations are usually inevitable because induction requires the chemical(s) to physically contact the receiver cells. Problems include the remnants of chemicals on biofilm, the diffusion of inducers, and possible impairments on fragile biofilm when applying inducer chemicals. <br /><br />
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When combined with photo-printing, light-induced biofilm formation may provide an environmentally friendly way to produce biofilms with greater precision. For example, with beam(s) of highly coherent light, it may be possible to control cells on the unicellular level. A single bacterium is about 1μm long and its metabolic products are on the nanometer scale. Once the control of a single cell is made possible, we can obtain control of biomaterial formation on the nanometer scale. The memory space of a piece of Blu-Ray disk is about 25 gigabytes, however, once our parts are utilized to control a single cell, a normal sized bio-disk made of metabolites would be able to store information in terabytes or on an even larger scale.<br /><br />
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Instead of printing 2D images layer by layer to create a 3D image, more precise control of the threshold of our optic biosensor and optimized receiver circuit may allow for the first holographic image from a cluster of cells to be plausible i.e., a real 3D photo printing method in synthetic biology discipline. Once cell differentiation is adaptable, artificial tissues or organs could be obtained by 3D photo printing with a cluster of rewired stem cells containing our part.<br /><br />
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With our highly-sensitive optically responsive part, photo-printing by natural light is finally a reality. The responding wavelengths necessary are in the visible light spectrum, making them harmless, which further proves that our parts are suitable for printing on organisms. The new era of photo printing is coming soon.</p>
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The communication between cells is an indispensable element to program cell population behavior, such as synchronization, fate differentiation, and even pattern formation. In our project, we proved the feasibility of cell-cell communication through light, a physical mode, for the very first time in synthetic biology. Despite the fact that more efforts are necessary to elucidate the reliability of inter-cellular communication via light, its significance can be best understood when compared with chemical communication.<br /><br />
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<img src="/wiki/images/b/be/Peking2012_Chemical_Light_comparison.png" alt="comparison of Chemical and light" style="width:600px"/>
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<p class="description" style="text-align:center;font-style:normal;">Figure 1. Comparison of chemical signal and light signal</p>
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Intuitively, light signal propagates much faster than chemical signals because it bypasses the need for chemical diffusion. This provides a superior mechanism for cell signaling and thus a rapid response is guaranteed. <br /><br />
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Additionally, the most frequent ‘calling distance’ reported for quorum sensing is in the micrometer ranges, and very rarely in millimeter ranges in synthetic biology cases. However, we demonstrated that light communication can operate over millimeter to centimeter ranges since light can easily propagate across transparent media, thus able to directly affect enzyme activity or gene expression. Not surprisingly, light signals can be expected to couple biochemical reactions and cellular behaviors that are spatially separated by millimeter to centimeter distances. <br /><br />
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As a hallmark of coordinated cellular behavior, pattern formation typically required cell-cell communication and intracellular signal processing. For more site-specific signaling and pattern formation, light may be more appropriate alternative. Due to the high sensitivity of our <i>Luminesensor</i>, it is possible to construct a ring-like pattern based on light-communication, previously done by AHL. This kind of flexibility enables its application in tissue-engineering, bio-sensing and bio-manufacturing. (See <a href="/Team:Peking/Modeling/Ring">Modeling Ring Pattern</a>)<br /><br />
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Besides, it is notable that the bacterial cell size (approximately 1.0 μm) is comparable to the wavelength of blue light (in our case, 0.46μm). Therefore, it will be interesting to see how optical phenomena such as scattering and diffraction affect, or even guide, the formation of microstructures such as colonies or biofilms, when cell-cell communication through light is brought in. <br /><br />
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What’s more, the most fascinating feature of light signaling among cells is far beyond that of its intra-species capabilities. Inter-species and even inter-kingdom communication, such as that between bacteria and yeast or between bacteria and mammalian cells, will not merely exist as an idea due to the ability of our cells to be easily engineered to emit luminescence. Last but not least, our <i>Luminesensor</i> can also be easily adjusted to work in different cell types due to its modularity.
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<img src="/wiki/images/4/48/Peking2012_light_communication_future_2.png" alt="comparison of Chemical and light" style="width:500px"/>
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<p class="description" style="text-align:center;font-style:normal;">Figure 2. Inter-Kingdom signaling between mammalian/yeast cells and bacteria using <i>Luminesensor</i></p>
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Latest revision as of 17:14, 21 October 2012

Prospective

The communication between cells is an indispensable element to program cell population behavior, such as synchronization, fate differentiation, and even pattern formation. In our project, we proved the feasibility of cell-cell communication through light, a physical mode, for the very first time in synthetic biology. Despite the fact that more efforts are necessary to elucidate the reliability of inter-cellular communication via light, its significance can be best understood when compared with chemical communication.

comparison of Chemical and light

Figure 1. Comparison of chemical signal and light signal

Intuitively, light signal propagates much faster than chemical signals because it bypasses the need for chemical diffusion. This provides a superior mechanism for cell signaling and thus a rapid response is guaranteed.

Additionally, the most frequent ‘calling distance’ reported for quorum sensing is in the micrometer ranges, and very rarely in millimeter ranges in synthetic biology cases. However, we demonstrated that light communication can operate over millimeter to centimeter ranges since light can easily propagate across transparent media, thus able to directly affect enzyme activity or gene expression. Not surprisingly, light signals can be expected to couple biochemical reactions and cellular behaviors that are spatially separated by millimeter to centimeter distances.

As a hallmark of coordinated cellular behavior, pattern formation typically required cell-cell communication and intracellular signal processing. For more site-specific signaling and pattern formation, light may be more appropriate alternative. Due to the high sensitivity of our Luminesensor, it is possible to construct a ring-like pattern based on light-communication, previously done by AHL. This kind of flexibility enables its application in tissue-engineering, bio-sensing and bio-manufacturing. (See Modeling Ring Pattern)

Besides, it is notable that the bacterial cell size (approximately 1.0 μm) is comparable to the wavelength of blue light (in our case, 0.46μm). Therefore, it will be interesting to see how optical phenomena such as scattering and diffraction affect, or even guide, the formation of microstructures such as colonies or biofilms, when cell-cell communication through light is brought in.

What’s more, the most fascinating feature of light signaling among cells is far beyond that of its intra-species capabilities. Inter-species and even inter-kingdom communication, such as that between bacteria and yeast or between bacteria and mammalian cells, will not merely exist as an idea due to the ability of our cells to be easily engineered to emit luminescence. Last but not least, our Luminesensor can also be easily adjusted to work in different cell types due to its modularity.

comparison of Chemical and light

Figure 2. Inter-Kingdom signaling between mammalian/yeast cells and bacteria using Luminesensor