Mapping the operational landscape of microRNAs in synthetic gene circuits

Circuit architecture and function. a Biological schematic of the miRNA repression circuit. The CFP fluorescent protein is constitutively produced and is used to quantify the plasmid copy number. The synthetic miRNA-FF4 is produced in response to Dox and is quantified by mKate2 fluorescence. The miRNA-FF4 represses the mRNA of the output fluorescent protein, YFP. b Functional graph representation of the circuit. Each observed fluorescent quantity is assumed to be a function of the underlying activity of the circuit elements. c Visual representation of function-dependent output space of circuit. The green and red surfaces represent the expected output space of the circuit in the absence and presence of miRNA regulation, respectivel