An Introduction to BioBricks
Contents
What is a BioBrick?
The BioBrick logic family is a set of interchangable components, designed with a view to building biological systems in living cells. The members of this family are designed to be compatible, composible, interchangeable and independent; in this way a new generation of biological engineers are building novel devices much in the way their electronically-orientated collegues might piece together transistors, resistors and capacitors.
A BioBrick represents a unique sequence of DNA; it might be a gene that codes a protein or a switch triggered by an external input, it also has a unique name. Whatever its function, a biobrick comes packaged in a plasmid, ready to be assembled into useful devices & systems.
Building BioBrick Systems
Physical parts in the DNA Repository have been designed to be assembled into systems using normal cloning techniques based on restriction enzymes, purification, ligation, and transformation - with a twist: BioBrick parts are composable. The result of assembling two parts is a new part that may be used in future assemblies.
- Standard Assembly
- The classical method of BioBrick assembly, done at the lab bench.
- Insert pic of std assembly
- Automated Assembly
- Automated assembly, currently in late stage development at iGEM labs.
- Insert pic of auto assembly
How do I make a BioBrick?
At the bench
Pic of biobrick flanked by coding seq
Methods:
- Synthesis
- PCR
Adding the part to the registry
This protocol is quick and easy. A comprehensive guide can be found here