An RNA switch that can turn a gene on has been developed by Northwestern University scientists, who say this RNA-based regulator allows for sophisticated and temporal control of gene expression. Their research was published yesterday in Nature Communications.
Using a computational design approach, Julius Lucks, an associate professor of chemical and biological engineering in Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering, created the switch by molecularly programming an RNA molecule called Small Transcription Activating RNA, or STAR that his group had previously discovered. He then used an algorithm to optimize the STAR for specific applications.
"For anything to happen in biology, the 'light' has to be turn on," said Lucks, a member of Northwestern's Center for Synthetic Biology. "We're always interested in turning things on, so we found a way to engineer some really good light switches."
According to Lucks, STAR can turn on the light, or activate a gene, 9,000 times brighter than without the STAR present.
"If you study a system to explore what a gene does, you want to know what it does when it's completely on or off," Lucks explains. "Not when the gene is there or halfway there. That's much harder to disentangle."
That's particularly true for diagnostic applications, which Lucks plans to pursue next with his new tool. Because RNA excels at detecting other strands of RNA, STARs could be useful in diagnosing RNA viruses. To do this, Lucks says his switch could be engineered to turn on in the presence of one of these viruses.