The emerging field of synthetic biology has led to the design of tailor-made synthetic circuits for several therapeutic applications. Biological networks can be reprogramed by designing synthetic circuits that modulate the expression of target proteins. IPCS (inositol phosphorylceramide synthase) has been an attractive target in the sphingolipid metabolism of the parasite Leishmania. In this study, we have constructed a tristable circuit for the IPCS protein. The circuit has been validated and its long-term behavior has been assessed. The robustness and evolvability of the circuit has been estimated using evolutionary algorithms. The tristable synthetic circuit has been specifically designed to improve the rate of production of phosphatidylcholine: ceramide cholinephosphotransferase 4 (SLS4 protein). Site-specific delivery of the circuit into the parasite-infected macrophages could serve as a possible therapeutic intervention of the infectious disease 'Leishmaniasis'.
Keywords: IPCS; Leishmaniasis; Pareto front; multistate attractor dynamics; phase plane diagram; probabilistic boolean network; quasi-potential landscape; steady state simulation; tristable circuit.