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Abstract
RNAs have many important functional properties, including that they are independently controllable and highly tunable. As a result of these advantageous properties, their use in a myriad of sophisticated devices has been widely explored. Yet, the exploitation of RNAs for synthetic applications is highly dependent on the ability to characterize the many new molecules that continue to be discovered by large-scale sequencing and high-throughput screening techniques. In this review, we present an exhaustive survey of the most recent synthetic bacterial riboswitches and small RNAs while emphasizing their virtues in gene expression management. We also explore the use of these RNA components as building blocks in the RNA synthetic biology toolbox and discuss examples of synthetic RNA components used to rewire bacterial regulatory circuitry. We anticipate that this field will expand its catalog of smart devices by mimicking and manipulating natural RNA mechanisms and functions.
Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest
No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to funding to Contreras LM from the Welch Foundation (Grant NO. F-1756), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Young Investigator Program (HDTRA1-12-0016), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator program (FA9550-13-1-0160), and the NSF CAREER program (CBET-1254754). We want to acknowledge as well the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT, Mexico) for the graduate fellowship granted to Vazquez-Anderson J (CONACYT-194638). We also thank Steven Sowa, Kevin Baldridge, and Kevin Vasquez for their valuable comments and edition contributions toward the successful completion of this manuscript.