Affiliation:
1. Department of Physics Tianjin University Tianjin China
2. Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology and Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Ministry of Education) Tianjin University Tianjin China
3. SynBio Research Platform Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin) Tianjin China
Abstract
AbstractOver the past few decades, there has been a significant interest in the study of essential genes, which are crucial for the survival of an organism under specific environmental conditions and thus have practical applications in the fields of synthetic biology and medicine. An increasing amount of experimental data on essential genes has been obtained with the continuous development of technological methods. Meanwhile, various computational prediction methods, related databases and web servers have emerged accordingly. To facilitate the study of essential genes, we have established a database of essential genes (DEG), which has become popular with continuous updates to facilitate essential gene feature analysis and prediction, drug and vaccine development, as well as artificial genome design and construction. In this article, we summarized the studies of essential genes, overviewed the relevant databases, and discussed their practical applications. Furthermore, we provided an overview of the main applications of DEG and conducted comprehensive analyses based on its latest version. However, it should be noted that the essential gene is a dynamic concept instead of a binary one, which presents both opportunities and challenges for their future development.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Subject
Microbiology,Biotechnology