Team:Hong Kong HKU/program
PROGRAM
In synthetic biology, it is often of interest to biotechnolgists to express proteins at a defined ratio.
As we know that different cell division times (tr, tf) and probabilities of phenotype switching (pF, pR)
can influence the phenotype ratio (F:R), we can theoretically go backwards to find the optimal pF and pR
that results in a phenotype ratio of interest at given tr and tf. pF and pR may be manipulated using the
genetic circuit by altering the Cre protein expression.
By doing so, we first have to run multiple simulations at different parameters that yield different
phenotype ratios. The results are then stored as a database. Subsequently, users can input the desired
ratio, along with the cell division times (tf, tr) to obtain the probability of phenotype switching
required.
This is how our program works:
Once the database is created, the results can be generated readily by executing the codes in Terminal.
The example inputted an F:R ratio of 3:2, tf = 10, and tr = 20 and yielded the two optimised
probabilities of phenotype switching, being pF = 0.04 and pR = 0.05 which are required to obtain the
desired ratio. The final F:R ratio with SD computed using the parameters, along with the percentages of
each phenotypes with SD are also provided.
Learn more about how the program works by checking out the video: