Analytical Sciences


Abstract − Analytical Sciences, 37(5), 699 (2021).

Transcription Factors as Evolvable Biosensors
Daisuke UMENO, Yuki KIMURA, and Shigeko KAWAI-NOMA
Department of Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi, Inage, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
One of the most prominent features of genetically encoded biosensors (GEBs) is their evolvability—the ability to invent new sensory functions using mutations. Among the GEBs, the transcription factor-based biosensors (TF-biosensors) is the focus of this review. We also discuss how this class of sensors can be highly evolvable and how we can exploit it. With an established platform for directed evolution, researchers can create, or evolve, new TF-biosensors. Directed evolution experiments have revealed the TF-biosensors’ evolvability, which is based partially on their characteristic physicochemical properties.