We designed a pair of DNA-based logic gates that sense single-stranded DNAs and aptamer ligands to produce fluorescence outputs according to Boolean logic functions AND and OR.

Cyanobacteria are an attractive candidate for the production of biofuel because of their ability to capture carbon dioxide by photosynthesis and grow on non-arable land. However, because huge quantities of water are required for cultivation, strict water management is one of the greatest issues in algae- and cyanobacteria-based biofuel production. In this study, we aim to construct a lytic cyanobacterium that can be regulated by a physical signal (green-light illumination) for future use in the recovery of biofuel related compounds. We introduced T4 bacteriophage-derived lysis genes encoding holin and endolysin under the control of the green-light regulated cpcG2 promoter in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. When cells harboring the lysis genes were illuminated with both red and green light, we observed a considerable decrease in growth rate, a significant increase in cellular phycocyanin released in the medium, and a considerable fraction of dead cells. These effects were not observed when these cells were illuminated with only red light, or when cells not containing the lysis genes were grown under either red light or red and green light. These results indicate that our constructed green-light inducible lytic system was clearly induced by green-light illumination, resulting in lytic cells that released intracellular phycocyanin into the culture supernatant. This property suggests a future possibility to construct photosynthetic genetically modified organisms that are unable to survive under sunlight exposure. Expression of the self-lysis system with green-light illumination was also found to greatly increase the fragility of the cell membrane, as determined by subjecting the induced cells to detergent, osmotic-shock, and freeze-thaw treatments. A green-light inducible lytic system was constructed in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. The engineered lytic cyanobacterial cells should be beneficial for the recovery of biofuels and related compounds from cells with minimal effort and energy, due to the fragile nature of the induced cells. Furthermore, the use of light-sensing two-component systems to regulate the expression of exogenous genes in cyanobacteria promises to replace conventional chemical inducers in many bioprocess applications, impacting the limiting water management issues.

Nuclear transfer experiments undertaken in the mid-80's revealed that both maternal and paternal genomes are necessary for normal development. This is due to genomic imprinting, an epigenetic mechanism that results in parent-of-origin monoallelic expression of genes regulated by germline-derived allelic methylation. To date, ∼100 imprinted transcripts have been identified in mouse, with approximately two-thirds showing conservation in humans. It is currently unknown how many imprinted genes are present in humans, and to what extent these transcripts exhibit human-specific imprinted expression. This is mainly due to the fact that the majority of screens for imprinted genes have been undertaken in mouse, with subsequent analysis of the human orthologues. Utilizing extremely rare reciprocal genome-wide uniparental disomy samples presenting with Beckwith–Wiedemann and Silver–Russell syndrome-like phenotypes, we analyzed ∼0.1% of CpG dinculeotides present in the human genome for imprinted differentially methylated regions (DMRs) using the Illumina Infinium methylation27 BeadChip microarray. This approach identified 15 imprinted DMRs associated with characterized imprinted domains, and confirmed the maternal methylation of the RB1 DMR. In addition, we discovered two novel DMRs, first, one maternally methylated region overlapping the FAM50B promoter CpG island, which results in paternal expression of this retrotransposon. Secondly, we found a paternally methylated, bidirectional repressor located between maternally expressed ZNF597 and NAT15 genes. These three genes are biallelically expressed in mice due to lack of differential methylation, suggesting that these genes have become imprinted after the divergence of mouse and humans.