Contemporary tools for regulating gene expression in bacteria

Insights from novel mechanistic paradigms in gene expression control have led to the development of new gene expression systems for bio-production, control and sensing applications. Coupled with a greater understanding of synthetic burden and modern creative bio-design approaches, contemporary bacterial gene expression tools and systems are emerging that permit fine-tuning of expression, enabling greater predictability and maximisation of specific productivity, whilst minimising deleterious effects upon cell viability. These advances have been achieved by using a plethora of regulatory tools operating at all levels of the so-called central dogma of molecular biology. This review discusses these gene regulation tools in the context of their design, prototyping, integration into expression systems, and their biotechnological application.