The framework guides complex bioengineering tasks between
multiple cell populations.
Researchers have created a framework for
helping bioengineers determine when to use multiple lines of cells to
manufacture a product. The work could help a variety of industries that use
bacteria to produce chemicals ranging from pharmaceuticals to fragrances.
Every cell in the world is constantly
absorbing nutrients and raw materials and transforming them into something more
useful. Often the process provides the cells with energy or some other vital
vitamin or mineral, while leaving behind byproducts that can be beneficial for
other cells. This is especially true in complex multicellular organisms and
ecosystems, where several different types or species of cells can work together
to generate a single complex final product.
Scientists have been harnessing these
abilities since the 1970s to produce useful substances like human growth
hormone, pharmaceuticals, fragrances and biofuels. Most of the time they rely
on a single type of cell for such endeavors for the sake of simplicity. But
sometimes the process becomes too complicated.
Researchers put together a system of
equations to model how important variables interact in these types of systems.
For example, they can model the strain that complex tasks put on a single
cell's growth rate or the inefficiencies introduced when cells must pass
signals, enzymes and proteins back and forth in a division-of-labor scheme.
They put together more than 20 different
variations of how these systems could be built and how they might interact.
When they ran the simulations, they discovered that every trial boiled down to
how the variables affected two factors -- how fast the cells are able to grow
and how much efficiency is lost when two types of cells share resources while
transporting molecules between them.
See:
Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle
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