Team:MIT/Experiments/Recombinases

How does endometriosis respond to the menstrual cycle?

Endometriosis cells respond to the hormones associated with the menstrual cycle. Interestingly, the miRNA profile of these cells is different during the proliferative versus the secretory phase. TALK MORE ABOUT THIS STUFF. I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING :(

How can our circuit demonstrate temporal specificity?

Endometriosis cells have distinct characteristics at different points in the menstrual cycle, presenting a major challenge in identifying diseased cells. It is crucial that there is a way to achieve temporal specificity.

Recombinases are enzymes that can recognize target sequences, and depending on their orientation, can either cut out DNA between the recognition sites or invert the DNA sequence. There are two main families of recombinases - serine recombinases (also sometimes called serine integrases) and tyrosine recombinases. Serine integrases invert sequences while tyrosine recombinases can either cut or flip sequences depending on the orientation of recognition sites. Some recombinases exhibit unidirectionality, meaning once they reverse or cut the sequence the action cannot be undone. This means that instead of behaving like a switch, capable of turning on or off, unidirectional recombinases behave as latches.

We can use recombinases as biological latches in our circuit to gain temporal specificity. Once a cell is identified as having the miRNA profile characteristic of a diseased cell, a recombinase can be activated to essentially “lock in” that information. When the second half of the circuit confirms the cell as being diseased, a second recombinase latch can be triggered, activating the overall circuit.

Do our recombinases work?

We used the serine integrase TP901 to flip an inverted eYFP... talk more about this.