Engineering genetic circuits: advancements in genetic design automation tools and standards for synthetic biology

Abstract

Synthetic biology (SynBio) is a field at the intersection of biology and engineering. Inspired by engineering principles, researchers use defined parts to build functionally defined biological circuits. Genetic design automation (GDA) allows scientists to design, model, and analyze their genetic circuits in silico before building them in the lab, saving time, and resources in the process. Establishing SynBio’s future is dependent on GDA, since the computational approach opens the field to a broad, interdisciplinary community. However, challenges with part libraries, standards, and software tools are currently stalling progress in the field. This review first covers recent advancements in GDA, followed by an assessment of the challenges ahead, and a proposed automated genetic design workflow for the future.