Community science designed ribosomes with beneficial phenotypes

Functional design of ribosomes with mutant ribosomal RNA (rRNA) could expand opportunities for understanding molecular translation, building cells from the bottom-up, and engineering ribosomes with altered capabilities. However, such efforts have been hampered by cell viability constraints, an enormous combinatorial sequence space, and limitations on large-scale, 3D design of RNA structures and functions. To address these challenges, we developed an integrated community science and experimental screening approach for rational design of ribosomes. This approach couples Eterna, an online video game that crowdsources RNA sequence design to community scientists in the form of puzzles, with in vitro ribosome synthesis, assembly, and translation in multiple design-build-test-learn cycles. We applied our framework to discover mutant rRNA sequences that improve protein synthesis in vitro and cell growth in vivo, relative to wild type ribosomes, under diverse environmental conditions. This work provides new insights into ribosome rRNA sequence-function relationships, with implications for synthetic biology.