A call for caution in analysing mammalian co-transfection experiments and implications of resource competition in data misinterpretation

Transient transfections are routinely used in basic and synthetic biology studies to unravel pathway regulation and to probe and characterise circuit designs. As each experiment has a component of intrinsic variability, reporter gene expression is usually normalized with co-delivered genes that act...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Roberto Di Blasi, Masue M. Marbiah, Velia Siciliano, Karen Polizzi, Francesca Ceroni
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:
Q
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/8edf6ae5ac17436485b407b1d9cf9f05
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:Transient transfections are routinely used in basic and synthetic biology studies to unravel pathway regulation and to probe and characterise circuit designs. As each experiment has a component of intrinsic variability, reporter gene expression is usually normalized with co-delivered genes that act as transfection controls. Recent reports in mammalian cells highlight how resource competition for gene expression leads to biases in data interpretation, with a direct impact on co-transfection experiments. Here we define the connection between resource competition and transient transfection experiments and discuss possible alternatives. Our aim is to raise awareness within the community and stimulate discussion to include such considerations in future experimental designs, for the development of better transfection controls.