[2S00m] 01. ASBA - Part 4

10:10 AM - 10:30 AM JST(1:10 AM - 1:30 AM UTC)

[2ASBA-02-KL] Engineering Pattern Formation through Quantitative Synthetic Biology

○Chenli LIU¹, Nan Luo¹, Weirong Liu¹, Chenjian Sun¹, Mengmeng Zhang¹ (1. Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (China))

Keywords:

Pattern formation,Quantitative synthetic biology,Genetic circuits,Range expansion,Symmetry breaking

Rational construction of robust and diverse biological patterns requires quantitative understanding of the underlying biophysical and evolutionary mechanisms. Here, we present a quantitative synthetic biology framework in which mechanistic modeling first reveals principles governing bacterial patterning, then guides the rational design of synthetic systems that validate and exploit these principles. We first show that a classic stripe-forming circuit loses function over time, as fast-moving mutants dominate the colony frontier. Guided by quantitative modeling of these evolutionary dynamics, we introduced cooperative motility into the circuit design, flattening the fitness landscape and yielding engineered strains with significantly enhanced pattern stability. Moving beyond radially symmetric patterns, we revealed that nonmotile Bacillus endophyticus forms symmetry-breaking patterns through biosurfactant-driven Marangoni stress that fractures the agar surface. Based on quantitative characterization of the critical conditions, we reproduced similar crack-mediated patterns in Escherichia coli by introducing biosurfactant expression and abolishing motility, validating the proposed biophysical mechanism. Together, these studies establish a generalizable paradigm for constructing stable, diverse pattern-forming systems through quantitative synthetic biology.