title: A cascade reaction network mimicking the basic functional steps of adaptive immune response.
abstract: Biological systems use complex 'information-processing cores' composed of molecular networks to coordinate their external environment and internal states. An example of this is the acquired, or adaptive, immune system (AIS), which is composed of both humoral and cell-mediated components. Here we report the step-by-step construction of a prototype mimic of the AIS that we call an adaptive immune response simulator (AIRS). DNA and enzymes are used as simple artificial analogues of the components of the AIS to create a system that responds to specific molecular stimuli in vitro. We show that this network of reactions can function in a manner that is superficially similar to the most basic responses of the vertebrate AIS, including reaction sequences that mimic both humoral and cellular responses. As such, AIRS provides guidelines for the design and engineering of artificial reaction networks and molecular devices.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Molecular Engineering for Theranostics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.|Center for Research at Bio/nano Interface, Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Health Cancer Center, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-7200, USA.
authors.forename: Da
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Molecular Engineering for Theranostics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.|Center for Research at Bio/nano Interface, Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Health Cancer Center, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-7200, USA.
authors.forename: Cuichen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Molecular Engineering for Theranostics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.
authors.forename: Mingxu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: Center for Research at Bio/nano Interface, Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Health Cancer Center, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-7200, USA.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Center for Research at Bio/nano Interface, Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Health Cancer Center, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-7200, USA.
authors.forename: Shuo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Molecular Engineering for Theranostics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.|Center for Research at Bio/nano Interface, Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Health Cancer Center, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-7200, USA.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Molecular Engineering for Theranostics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Center for Research at Bio/nano Interface, Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Health Cancer Center, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-7200, USA.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Molecular Engineering for Theranostics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Molecular Engineering for Theranostics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.|Center for Research at Bio/nano Interface, Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Health Cancer Center, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-7200, USA.
authors.forename: Weihong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D056704:Adaptive Immunity; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D004798:Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes; D004247:DNA