A nucleic acid-based bacterial message export system for cell-to-cell communication

Communication within natural systems of eukaryotes and prokaryotes typically entails message transmission between and among cells via small-molecule messengers being funneled from the sender to the receiver cell. Nucleic acids are rarely used as extracellular messengers due to their labile nature and proclivity for enzymatic digestion. Eliminating these obstacles will allow for a larger array of messages to be sent with minimal cellular machinery. Exploiting the bacterial twin-arginine translocation (TAT) pathway and a nucleic-acid binding protein sourced from bacteriophage MS2, we have engineered a message-sending system in Escherichia coli capable of specifically exporting a "pre-written" circularized RNA message to the extracellular environment. This RNA message maintains its integrity over the course of at least four hours in extracellular growth medium, and this system serves as the first demonstration of versatile, stable messaging with nucleic acids, specifically with RNA, in the extracellular environment.

Department dc:contributor.department

Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Nip, Lisa

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Joseph M. Jacobson.

• Program in Media Arts and Sciences ()

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110882

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/110882