Scientists have created a synthetic eukaryotic chromosome from yeast, which could aid in the production of novel medicines, vaccines and cures,and biofuels.
An international team of researchers led by Jef Boeke, PhD, director of the Institute for Systems Genetics in New York University's (NYU) LangoneMedical Center have successfully built a fully functional eukaryotic chromosome through the use of computer-aided design.
A eukaryotic chromosome is a threadlike structure that transports genes in the nucleus of plant and animal cells.
They tied together about 273,871 base pairs of DNA from 316,617 base pairs of native chromosome III to create SynIII. Then, they modified its genetic base for about 500 times, which included the removal of repeating sections in about 47,841 DNA base pairs as these base pairs are useless in the chromosomal reproduction and growth. They also removed "junk" DNA, such as base pairs known not to encode any particular protein, and "jumping gene" segments that introduced mutations.
Moreover, some base pairs were either added or modified to allow tagging of DNA as synthetic or native and remove or transfer genes on SynIII.
They were also successful in scrambling yeast DNA without affecting the chromosomal viability and functions of it. This helped the researchers indeveloping synthetic strains of yeast that could be used in the development of medicines and vaccines, while synthetic yeast can be used in the development of biofuels, like biodiesel and butanol.
"When you change the genome you're gambling. One wrong change can kill the cell," said Dr. Boeke in a press release. "We have made over 50,000 changes to the DNA code in the chromosome and our yeast still live. That is remarkable. It shows that our synthetic chromosome is hardy, and it endows the yeast with new properties."
This study was published online on March 27 in Science.
