CellRepo: a version control system for microbial strains

Scientific efforts in the field of Synthetic Biology routinely lead to the emergence of new microbial strains programmed with specific behaviour. However, this continuous outgrowth can become difficult to track and makes the sharing of reliable information difficult. To a larger extent, this affects communication between research laboratories and results' reproducibility due to poor strains documentation.

To bridge the gap between version control software and living organisms, we propose CellRepo --- a new tool that identifies microbial strains based on a minimal DNA sequence. This DNA key is a unique link to an online repository that traces parent-type and strain-specific information, could it be from in-silico resources (sequences, models, simulations) or in-vivo/in-vitro data (protocols, results). The recovered DNA barcode then provides access to thorough strain documentation. Altogether, CellRepo is a project aiming to standardise biological information through DNA barcodes, improve its transfer, and to integrate the in-vivo and in-silico data. Here I will explain the advances I have been making on the biological side of things, trying to develop barcoding methods and testing crucial features of the tool.