title: Forging new ties between E. coli genes.
abstract: A recent study in Nature (Isalan et al., 2008) has examined the effects of systematically adding new transcriptional interactions in the bacterium Escherichia coli. Surprisingly, the majority of the engineered connections have no effect on growth, and in some cases the new connections enhance fitness. These findings reveal insights into the robustness and evolvability of gene networks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. grey@bioeng.ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Trey
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ideker
mesh_terms: D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015202:Protein Engineering; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins