Engineering Functional Nucleic Acids for Synthetic Biology and Applied Biotechnology

Functional nucleic acids (FNAs) including synthetic riboswitches, riboregulators, aptamers and guide RNAs have transformed synthetic biology from a theoretical discipline into a platform for programmable cellular and cell-free control. Beyond serving as passive genetic carriers, engineered DNA and RNA architectures fold into defined 3D structures, execute logic operations, recognize specific ligands, and switch conformations in response to physiological or environmental signals.This Research Topic focuses on the design, construction, and characterization of functional nucleic acids as modular, predictable genetic parts and circuits for novel biological systems. The scope spans RNA-mediated gene regulation, the engineering of aptamers and guide RNAs into programmable regulatory components, CRISPR/RNA-guided regulatory modules, and the translation of these engineered systems into biomedical, industrial, agricultural, and environmental applications. This collection focuses on advancing the design principles of FNAs as building blocks of engineered biological systems, emphasizing key parameters such as predictability, modularity, and cross-platform portability. Translating FNAs into robust components of novel biological systems is hindered by fundamental biophysical limits including off-target binding, basal leakiness, restricted dynamic ranges, unpredictable folding, and rapid degradation in complex biological fluids. This Special Issue welcomes studies that deploy synergistic chemical biology, quantitative modeling, structural characterization, and computational frameworks to establish predictable, highly stable, and orthogonal design rules for functional nucleic acids within engineered biological systems.We invite Original Research, Reviews, Mini-Reviews, Methods, and Perspective articles covering but not limited to the following topics:o RNA Synthetic Biology: Design and implementation of riboswitches, riboregulators, ribozymes, and programmable genetic circuits.o Aptamer Engineering as Genetic Parts: High-throughput SELEX variants, chemical modifications, and post-selection optimization of aptamers as modular regulatory parts for integration into engineered biological systems.o Quantitative Design of Molecular Recognition Modules: Quantitative approaches to improve affinity, specificity, dynamic range, and signal-to-noise ratios of functional nucleic acids for predictable system behavior.o CRISPR-Based Regulatory Circuits: Engineering guide RNAs, conditional CRISPR systems, and RNA-guided regulatory modules for programmable cellular control.o Aptamer-Actuator Integration: Ligand-responsive, allosteric architectures for programmable cell-free and cellular control.o Applied Synthetic Biology: Deployment of engineered functional-nucleic-acid-based systems in medicine, agriculture, and environmental biotechnology, built on novel biological system design.o Performance in Complex Environments: Evaluating nucleic acid stability, structural transitions, and orthogonality of engineered systems within complex biological matrices and living cells. Topic editors: Ambadas Rode, Tamaki Endoh, Ulhas Kadam Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84913/engineering-functional-nucleic-acids-for-synthetic-biology-and-applied-biotechnology