Week 2 HW: DNA Design

DNA Design: Makeshift Target Identification, Double-stranded RNA Design, and Circuit Design

1. Overview

As it was previously discussed, my proposed final project aims to biomanufacture a microbial platform to slow down and impede the spread of malaria, a globally burdensome illness caused by members of a genus of protists known as Plasmodia, which are borne by mosquito vectors of genera Anopheles and Aedes. While the **, **, and ** microbial chasses themselves were shown to be naturally capable of exerting inhibitory effects on Plasmodium spp., it is hypothesised that by engineering them to express and deliver double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) molecules to the mosquito vector, RNA intereference could be triggered against mosquito genes that play a role in promoting Plasmodium infection and retention.

To realise this goal, the first step is to perform systems analysis on a defined set of host and Plasmodium signaling pathways involved in immunity and infection, respectively. Table 1 presents the most important pathways known to be involved and the extent to which each pathway has been explored or analysed.

Table 1. Summary of the pathways involved in host immunity against Plasmodium or promoting midgut colonisation, infection, and retention of the pathogen.