Synthetic Genetic Elements, Devices, and Systems: 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue’s first edition was a great achievement. We are now inviting you to contribute to the second edition (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/life/special_issues/Synth_Genet).

Since the beginning of life on Earth, over the course of 3–4 billion years, nature has created vast numbers of genetic elements, subsequently submitting them to natural selection, where winners survived and losers disappeared. Only genetically stable elements that contributed to the maintenance of life were permitted to persevere. Contrarily, natural selection restricted the diversity of genetic elements. In the last 20 years, i.e., 2 × 10⁻⁸ billion years, synthetic biologists have tried to create novel genetic elements that “nature has not invented or cannot invent”. The objective of this research is to go beyond the restriction of natural selection and obtain novel genetic elements that are “useful for human use”. From the limited modification of characteristics of natural elements to originally designed elements, various synthetic genetic elements have been reported. “Genetic devices”, such as logic gates and memory elements, and higher order “genetic systems”, such as metabolite factories and biological containment systems, can be constructed using these synthetic genetic elements in combination with other genetic elements. Through this approach, the incorporation of synthetic genetic elements is dramatically expanding biological functions.

This Special Issue, “Synthetic Genetic Elements, Devices, and Systems: 2nd Edition”, will explore the current state of the art in this growing field. We hereby invite articles (full articles, short communications, and reviews) covering a broad range of topics.

Topics for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Synthetic genetic elements in prokaryotes and eukaryotes (promoters, transcription factors, RBS, degradation tags, transcriptional terminators, sensors, indicators, ribozymes and riboswitches, enzymes such as recombinases and proteases as regulatory elements, etc.).
2. Synthetic genetic circuits as devices and systems (either involving or not involving synthetic genetic elements, but with the purpose of eliciting designed behavior).
3. Methods to develop synthetic genetic elements, devices, and systems.
4. Applications for laboratory and industrial use.
5. History and future perspectives.

Prof. Dr. Chunbo Lou
Dr. Yusuke Kato
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.