Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
This accomplishment not only demonstrates the power of current synthesis methods,
but also suggests the possibility of breaking new ground in synthetic life. However, we
perhaps cannot build a truly synthetic cell until we can build a genome bottom-up from its
functional parts. At this point, researchers simply do not understand the biological processes
enough to produce an economically useful bacterium. However, the Venter Institute already
has plans for building synthetic bacteria for carbon capture and biofuels. A novel synthetic
minimal genome may offer a simplified and well-understood chassis for synthetic
biologists. Perhaps, one may envision a hybrid genome or even a second orthogonal
genome. For example, the successful fusion of
Bacillus subtilis
and
Synechocystis
genomes
resulted in proliferating hybrids, which suggests the addition of new functions like
photosynthesis to a species through genome synthesis.
98
CONCLUSION
In four decades, the length record of synthetic DNA has grown from less than 100 bp to
over 1 Mb.
95,99
Increases in productivity have allowed for DNA synthesis to be applied
to a wide range of applications, including DNA nanotechnology, metabolic engineering,
gene circuits, and genome synthesis.
79,100,101
However, the engineering infrastructures
of DNA synthesis and assembly have not caught up to the growing demands of synthetic
biology. For the engineering of large gene circuits and pathways, de novo DNA synthesis is
responsible for only a small fraction of the entire constructs. Although the technologies
discussed show promise for low-cost automated gene synthesis, further refinements are
needed to improve manufacturing costs and turnover times before these new technologies
can replace current column-based oligonucleotide synthesizers. High-throughput strategies
are still compromised by high error rates. With further improvements and implementation
of the instruments and strategies discussed here, DNA synthesis could become a routine
method in bioengineering in the near future. The ability to rapidly create novel biological
machines could transform biological and medical research.
18
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful for financial support from NIH (R01HG005862) and the National Basic Research Program
of China (2011CBA00805, 2012CB721102).
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