Harnessing Naturally Occurring Bistable Switches for Their Application in Synthetic Biology

Bistability is a fundamental phenomenon in nature. In biochemical systems, it creates digital, switch-like outputs from the constituent chemical concentrations and activities, and it is often associated with hysteresis in such systems. Here, we first introduce the regulation of bistable switches at different levels in natural life systems, then explain the current pioneering applications of bistable switches in synthetic biology, and finally introduce some design and tuning methodologies and principles that may be helpful for the future application of bistable switches in synthetic biology.