Aptamer-mediated transactivation of transcription utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 and a photoreceptor

Abstract

In synthetic biology, spatio-temporal control of molecular functions is an essential tool for the investigation and manipulation of cellular processes. The usage of light enables a reversible non-invasive trigger, that stimulates photoreceptors, which translate energy into biological signals. Based on the photoreceptor PAL and CRISPR/dCas9, a platform was developed, that mediates light-dependent reversible transactivation of gene expression. While genetic coding space was minimized, the system combines a strong on-switch in the light with a very low background activity in the dark. The new tool adds to the existing building blocks used in synthetic biological circuit design and extends the degree of complexity for these systems.