CRISPRi-based circuits to control gene expression in plants.

The construction of synthetic gene circuits in plants has been limited by a lack of orthogonal and modular parts. Here, we implement a CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) interference (CRISPRi)-based reversible gene circuit platform in plants. We create a toolkit of engineered repressible promoters of different strengths and construct NOT and NOR gates in Arabidopsis thaliana protoplasts.

Exploring relationships between chemical structure and molecular conductance: from α,ω-functionalised oligoynes to molecular circuits.

The quantum circuit rule (QCR) allows estimation of the conductance of molecular junctions, electrode|X-bridge-Y|electrode, by considering the molecule as a series of independent scattering regions associated with the anchor groups (X, Y) and bridge, provided the numerical parameters that characterise the anchor groups (, ) and molecular backbones () are known. Single-molecule conductance measurements made with a series of α,ω-substituted oligoynes (X-{(CC)}-X, = 1, 2, 3, 4), functionalised by terminal groups, X (4-thioanisole (CHSMe), 5-(3,3-dimethyl-2,3-dihydrobenzo[]thiophene) (DMBT), 4-aniline (CHNH), 4-pyridine (Py), capable of serving as 'anchor groups' to contact the oligoyne fragment within a molecular junction, have shown the expected exponential dependence of molecular conductance, , with the number of alkyne repeating units. In turn, this allows estimation of the anchor () and backbone () parameters.