Encryption and steganography of synthetic gene circuits
Synthetic biologists use artificial gene circuits to control and engineer living cells. As engineered cells become increasingly commercialized, it will be desirable to protect the intellectual property contained in these circuits. Here, we introduce strategies to hide the design of synthetic gene ci...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Publishing Group
2019
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121080 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2031-8871 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9999-6690 |
| _version_ | 1811095584968278016 |
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| author | Purcell, Oliver Wang, Jerry S. Siuti, Piro Lu, Timothy K |
| author2 | Institute for Medical Engineering and Science |
| author_facet | Institute for Medical Engineering and Science Purcell, Oliver Wang, Jerry S. Siuti, Piro Lu, Timothy K |
| author_sort | Purcell, Oliver |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Synthetic biologists use artificial gene circuits to control and engineer living cells. As engineered cells become increasingly commercialized, it will be desirable to protect the intellectual property contained in these circuits. Here, we introduce strategies to hide the design of synthetic gene circuits, making it more difficult for an unauthorized third party to determine circuit structure and function. We present two different approaches: the first uses encryption by overlapping uni-directional recombinase sites to scramble circuit topology and the second uses steganography by adding genes and interconnections to obscure circuit topology. We also discuss a third approach: to use synthetic genetic codes to mask the function of synthetic circuits. For each approach, we discuss relative strengths, weaknesses, and practicality of implementation, with the goal to inspire further research into this important and emerging area. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:19:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/121080 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:19:57Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1210802022-09-29T19:35:58Z Encryption and steganography of synthetic gene circuits Purcell, Oliver Wang, Jerry S. Siuti, Piro Lu, Timothy K Institute for Medical Engineering and Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics Purcell, Oliver Wang, Jerry S. Siuti, Piro Lu, Timothy K Synthetic biologists use artificial gene circuits to control and engineer living cells. As engineered cells become increasingly commercialized, it will be desirable to protect the intellectual property contained in these circuits. Here, we introduce strategies to hide the design of synthetic gene circuits, making it more difficult for an unauthorized third party to determine circuit structure and function. We present two different approaches: the first uses encryption by overlapping uni-directional recombinase sites to scramble circuit topology and the second uses steganography by adding genes and interconnections to obscure circuit topology. We also discuss a third approach: to use synthetic genetic codes to mask the function of synthetic circuits. For each approach, we discuss relative strengths, weaknesses, and practicality of implementation, with the goal to inspire further research into this important and emerging area. United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (MK01 cell) United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (MK02 cell) 2019-03-25T17:17:51Z 2019-03-25T17:17:51Z 2018-11 2019-03-04T13:28:49Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2041-1723 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121080 Purcell, Oliver, Jerry Wang, Piro Siuti, and Timothy K. Lu. “Encryption and Steganography of Synthetic Gene Circuits.” Nature Communications 9, no. 1 (November 22, 2018). https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2031-8871 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9999-6690 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07144-7 Nature Communications Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Nature Publishing Group Nature |
| spellingShingle | Purcell, Oliver Wang, Jerry S. Siuti, Piro Lu, Timothy K Encryption and steganography of synthetic gene circuits |
| title | Encryption and steganography of synthetic gene circuits |
| title_full | Encryption and steganography of synthetic gene circuits |
| title_fullStr | Encryption and steganography of synthetic gene circuits |
| title_full_unstemmed | Encryption and steganography of synthetic gene circuits |
| title_short | Encryption and steganography of synthetic gene circuits |
| title_sort | encryption and steganography of synthetic gene circuits |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121080 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2031-8871 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9999-6690 |
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