Mammalian synthetic circuits with RNA binding proteins for RNA-only delivery

Synthetic regulatory circuits encoded in RNA rather than DNA could provide a means to control cell behavior while avoiding potentially harmful genomic integration in therapeutic applications. We create post-transcriptional circuits using RNA-binding proteins, which can be wired in a plug-and-play fashion to create networks of higher complexity. We show that the circuits function in mammalian cells when encoded in modified mRNA or self-replicating RNA.United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Grant DARPA-BAA-11-23)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grants P50-GM098792 and 5-R01-CA155320-03)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship Program (Grant 1122374