Automated design of bacterial genome sequences

Background: Organisms have evolved ways of regulating transcription to better adapt to varying environments. Could the current functional genomics data and models support the possibility of engineering a genome with completely rearranged gene organization while the cell maintains its behavior under environmental challenges? How would we proceed to design a full nucleotide sequence for such genomes? Results: As a first step towards answering such questions, recent work showed that it is possible to design alternative transcriptomic models showing the same behavior under environmental variations than the wild-type model. A second step would require providing evidence that it is possible to provide a nucleotide sequence for a genome encoding such transcriptional model. We used computational design techniques to design a rewired global transcriptional regulation of Escherichia coli, yet showing a similar transcriptomic response than the wild-type. Afterwards, we “compiled” the transcriptional networks into nucleotide sequences to obtain the final genome sequence. Our computational evolution procedure ensures that we can maintain the genotype-phenotype mapping during the rewiring of the regulatory network. We found that it is theoretically possible to reorganize E. coli genome into 86% fewer regulated operons. Such refactored genomes are constituted by operons that contain sets of genes sharing around the 60% of their biological functions and, if evolved under highly variable environmental conditions, have regulatory networks, which turn out to respond more than 20% faster to multiple external perturbations. Conclusions: This work provides the first algorithm for producing a genome sequence encoding a rewired transcriptional regulation with wild-type behavior under alternative environments

An integrative, multi-scale, genome-wide model reveals the phenotypic landscape of Escherichia coli.

Given the vast behavioral repertoire and biological complexity of even the simplest organisms, accurately predicting phenotypes in novel environments and unveiling their biological organization is a challenging endeavor. Here, we present an integrative modeling methodology that unifies under a common framework the various biological processes and their interactions across multiple layers. We trained this methodology on an extensive normalized compendium for the gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli, which incorporates gene expression data for genetic and environmental perturbations, transcriptional regulation, signal transduction, and metabolic pathways, as well as growth measurements. Comparison with measured growth and high-throughput data demonstrates the enhanced ability of the integrative model to predict phenotypic outcomes in various environmental and genetic conditions, even in cases where their underlying functions are under-represented in the training set. This work paves the way toward integrative techniques that extract knowledge from a variety of biological data to achieve more than the sum of their parts in the context of prediction, analysis, and redesign of biological systems

Network design meets in silico evolutionary biology

Cell fate is programmed through gene regulatory networks that perform several calculations to take the appropriate decision. In silico evolutionary optimization mimics the way Nature has designed such gene regulatory networks. In this review we discuss the basic principles of these evolutionary approaches and how they can be applied to engineer synthetic networks. We summarize the basic guidelines to implement an in silico evolutionary design method, the operators for mutation and selection that iteratively drive the network architecture towards a specified dynamical behavior. Interestingly, as it happens in natural evolution, we show the existence of patterns of punctuated evolution. In addition, we highlight several examples of models that have been designed using automated procedures, together with different objective functions to select for the proper behavior. Finally, we briefly discuss the modular designability of gene regulatory networks and its potential application in biotechnology.Supported by fellowships from Generalitat Valenciana and the European Molecular Biology Organization to G. R. and by grants from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación to J.C. and S.F.E.Peer reviewe

Diseño y simulación de una máquina encapsuladora automática de comprimidos de gelatina dura de 500 miligramos

En el presente trabajo describimos las ventajas de las Cápsulas de Gelatina Dura, se explicará las generalidades sobre esta forma farmacéutica, sus ventajas y desventajas, sus componentes, los métodos utilizados para la fabricación, los equipos involucrados en la fabricación y algunos aspectos de importancia. Para comprender más acerca de esta forma farmacéutica se empezará por describir la importancia de las cápsulas de gelatina dura. Las cápsulas constituyen la segunda forma farmacéutica sólida de administración oral más frecuentemente utilizada, después de las tabletas. Estas dos formulaciones sólidas comparten diversas ventajas, como son: a) Gran estabilidad física, química y biológica b) Dosificación exacta c) Liberación fácilmente controlable d) Bajo costo

Movimiento moderno vs. arquitectura contemporánea en Cuba

Modern and contemporary architecture are compared through bibliographical review and observation. Cuban contemporary architecture has been characterized by the absence of proper identity symbols and expressions, monotonous similarity, and poor aesthetic standards due to residential dwellers ´ low budgets and minimal costs for repairtment or construction, bad taste, and scarce professional orientation.Se comparan los modelos originales del Movimiento Moderno con la arquitectura contemporánea cubana, mediante la consulta bibliográfica y la observación. La arquitectura contemporánea cubana se ha caracterizado por la ausencia de valores simbólicos y expresivos, monotonía, uniformidad y poca estética, debido a bajos presupuestos, costos mínimos, mal gusto y poca orientación profesional de los propietarios en el sector residencial

Reverse-engineering the Arabidopsis thaliana transcriptional network under changing environmental conditions

An Arabidopsis thaliana transcriptional network reveals regulatory mechanisms for the control of genes related to stress adaptation

Fog Harvesting and IoT based Environment Monitoring System at the Ilalo volcano in Ecuador

Environmental monitoring is critical to develop appropriate policies for environmental sustainability. The quality of drinking and agricultural water is affected by bad environmental management strategies. In addition, natural water sources have been reduced due to climate changes and the lack of police and compliance with regulations for water resources management. In the Andes region of Ecuador, these problems have increased in recent decades. The lack of water affects not only human well-being, but also causes soil degradation. Therefore, finding alternative water sources has become the underlying requirement to provide human well-being and mitigate soil degradation in these regions. This article presents a fog collection system based on water condensation towers and Internet of Things (IoT) technology with real-time monitoring. Our system allows monitoring of environmental parameters while providing alternative sources of water from the environmental fog. Therefore, by collecting information related to the process of fog collection and climatic measurements of the environment, we seek to determine the state and trends of environmental conditions with respect to the performance of fog collection. In addition, our system allows the storage of historical environmental data, which can be used to develop environmental management policies. We have deployed our system on the slopes of the Ilalo volcano, Pichincha province, being part of the Ecuadorian Andes, where the soil deterioration has increased in recent years and has the largest soil degradation rate in Ecuado

General anesthesia for oral and dental care in paediatric patients with special needs : a systematic review

Background: The objective of this study is to conduct a systematic review of the literature on the characteristics, needs and current situation of dental care for pediatric patients with special needs. Material and Methods: An exhaustive search for literature published until June 1, 2020. It was carried out using PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane and EBSCO, with the following keywords: Oral Surgical Procedures and Dentistry, Operational and Anesthesia, General Y (Spanish[lang] or English[lang] ) Y (infant[MeSH] Or child[MeSH] Or adolescent[MeSH]). The research was carried out following the PRISMA research methodology. Results: The most common indication for general anesthesia (GA) was tooth decay in 16 studies (6.5-90.8% of patients), followed by lack of cooperation and/or fear of dental professionals performing dental procedures in 8 studies. There is a higher prevalence of treatment in the group of patients with special needs, reaching 87.7% compared to 69.9% in healthy patients. Conclusions: In paediatric patients with special needs the use of GA is increasing, monitoring and preventive care are insufficient and withdrawal rates are high