biostudies-literatureUnknown44(6)Chen XProgrammable transcription factors can enable precise control of gene expression triggered by a chemical inducer or light. To obtain versatile transgene system with combined benefits of a chemical inducer and light inducer, we created various chimeric promoters through the assembly of different copies of the tet operator and Gal4 operator module, which simultaneously responded to a tetracycline-responsive transcription factor and a light-switchable transactivator. The activities of these chimeric promoters can be regulated by tetracycline and blue light synergistically or antagonistically. Further studies of the antagonistic genetic circuit exhibited high spatiotemporal resolution and extremely low leaky expression, which therefore could be used to spatially and stringently control the expNucleic acids research2677-90https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC4824083biostudies-literatureSynthetic dual-input mammalian genetic circuits enable tunable and stringent transcription control by chemical and light.PMC4824083Yang YLi TLiu RChen XWang XDu ZfalseSynthetic dual-input mammalian genetic circuits enable tunable and stringent transcription control by chemical and light.Programmable transcription factors can enable precise control of gene expression triggered by a chemical inducer or light. To obtain versatile transgene system with combined benefits of a chemical inducer and light inducer, we created various chimeric promoters through the assembly of different copies of the tet operator and Gal4 operator module, which simultaneously responded to a tetracycline-responsive transcription factor and a light-switchable transactivator. The activities of these chimeric promoters can be regulated by tetracycline and blue light synergistically or antagonistically. Further studies of the antagonistic genetic circuit exhibited high spatiotemporal resolution and extremely low leaky expression, which therefore could be used to spatially and stringently control the exp2016-01-01T00:00:00Z2016 Apr2025-04-04T10:28:21.824Z2019-03-27T03:11:25ZS-EPMC48240832667371410.1093/nar/gkv1343