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Contents list for Molecular BioSystems, issue 7, 2009
Front cover
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 665
DOI: 10.1039/b910874m

Inside front cover
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 666
DOI: 10.1039/b910875k
Contents and Chemical Biology
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 667
DOI: 10.1039/b910876a
Reviews
Biocomputers: from test tubes to live cells
Yaakov Benenson,
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 675
DOI: 10.1039/b902484k
Enhanced HTML article available

Molecular computers are moving from test-tube prototypes to live cells. We review the recent advances and delineate the challenges of this exciting endeavor
Darwinian chemistry: towards the synthesis of a simple cell
David Loakes and Philipp Holliger,
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 686
DOI: 10.1039/b904024b
Enhanced HTML article available

Recent progress in nucleic acid chemistry, directed evolution and membrane biophysics have brought the prospect of a simple synthetic cell with life-like properties such as growth, division, heredity and evolution within reach.
Decoding biological principles using gene circuits
Yu Tanouchi, Anand Pai and Lingchong You,
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 695
DOI: 10.1039/b901584c
Enhanced HTML article available

A major flavor of synthetic biology is the creation of artificial gene circuits to perform user-defined tasks. Such efforts have led to the identification and evaluation of design strategies that enable robust control of dynamics in single cells and in cell populations.
Synthetic biology: exploring and exploiting genetic modularity through the design of novel biological networks
Christina M. Agapakis and Pamela A. Silver,
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 704
DOI: 10.1039/b901484e
Enhanced HTML article available

Synthetic biology takes advantage of the modularity inherent in molecular biology to create novel cellular networks. These synthetic pathways shed light on the underlying biology and have potential biotechnological applications.
Advancing high-throughput gene synthesis technology
Jingdong Tian, Kuosheng Ma and Ishtiaq Saaem,
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 714
DOI: 10.1039/b822268c
Enhanced HTML article available

High-throughput gene synthesis capability is critical for the future development of synthetic biology and biomedical research in general. This review introduces recent advances in the development of accurate, low-cost and high-throughput gene synthesis technology.
Engineering and exploiting protein assemblies in synthetic biology
David Papapostolou and Stefan Howorka,
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 723
DOI: 10.1039/b902440a
Enhanced HTML article available

Biological bottom-up structures composed of self-assembled proteins can be engineered and exploited for applications in cell biology, biomedicine, materials science and nanotechnology.
Towards the automated engineering of a synthetic genome
Javier Carrera, Guillermo Rodrigo and Alfonso Jaramillo,
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 733
DOI: 10.1039/b904400k
Enhanced HTML article available

We describe the current state-of-the-art towards the goal of the automatic design of synthetic genomes by computer simulations. This requires integrating global models of metabolism, transcription and DNA structure.
Method
Immobilisation and encapsulation of functional protein–inorganic constructs
Jemma L. Vickery, Surachai Thachepan, Avinash J. Patil and Stephen Mann,
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 744
DOI: 10.1039/b903652k
Enhanced HTML article available

Self-assembly methods for the immobilisation or encapsulation of the positively charged redox protein, cytochrome c (cyt c), in layered organoclays or silica nanoparticles, respectively, are described and contrasted.
Papers
Role of a salt bridge in the model protein crambin explored by chemical protein synthesis: X-ray structure of a unique protein analogue, [V15A]crambin-
-carboxamide
Duhee Bang, Valentina Tereshko, Anthony A. Kossiakoff and Stephen B. H. Kent,
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 750
DOI: 10.1039/b903610e
Enhanced HTML article available

The salt bridge between the side chain guanidinium of Arg10 and the
-carboxylate of Asn46 at the C-terminal of crambin
s polypeptide chain has been disrupted by total chemical synthesis of crambin-
-carboxamide, with dramatic effects on folding and flexibility of the protein molecule.
A synthetic metabolite-based mammalian inter-cell signaling system
Wilfried Weber, Marco Schuetz, Nicolas Dénervaud and Martin Fussenegger,
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 757
DOI: 10.1039/b902070p
Enhanced HTML article available

A mammalian inter-cell signaling system was designed by coupling an L-arginine-degrading sender cell to a receiver cell harboring an L-arginine-inducible expression system. Quantitative description of the system parameters enabled the design of predictable inter-cell signaling.
Expanded chemical diversity sampling through whole protein evolution
Amy J. Baldwin, James A. J. Arpino, Wayne R. Edwards, Eric M. Tippmann and D. Dafydd Jones,
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 764
DOI: 10.1039/b904031e
Enhanced HTML article available

A quick and efficient directed evolution method has been developed for use in conjunction with an expanded genetic code to label randomly a target gene with in-frame TAG codons reprogrammed to incorporate an unnatural amino acid at positions distributed throughout the protein.
Back matter
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 767
DOI: 10.1039/b910878p
Back cover
Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 771
DOI: 10.1039/b910877g





