Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Gene Editing Crunches an Organism's Genome Into Single, Giant DNA Molecule

posted by mrpg on Saturday August 04 2018, @07:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the #gataca dept.

Fnord666 writes:

Complex organisms have complex genomes. While bacteria and archaea keep all of their genes on a single loop of DNA, humans scatter them across 23 large DNA molecules called chromosomes; chromosome counts range from a single chromosome in males of an ant species to more than 400 in a butterfly.

There have been indications that chromosomes matter for an organism's underlying biology. Specialized structures within them influence the activity of nearby genes. And studies show that areas on different chromosomes will consistently be found next to each other in the cell, suggesting their interactions are significant.

So how do we square these two facts? Chromosome counts vary wildly and sometimes differ between closely related species, suggesting the actual number of chromosomes doesn't matter much. Yet the chromosomes themselves seem to be critical for an organism's genome to function as expected. To explore this issue, two different groups tried an audacious experiment: using genome editing, they gradually merged a yeast's 16 chromosomes down to just one giant molecule. And, unexpectedly, the yeast were mostly fine.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/08/gene-editing-crunches-an-organisms-genome-into-single-giant-dna-molecule/

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Gene Editing Crunches an Organism's Genome Into Single, Giant DNA Molecule | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 8 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by MostCynical on Saturday August 04 2018, @09:39AM (3 children)

    by MostCynical (2589) on Saturday August 04 2018, @09:39AM (#717172) Journal

    "Mostly fine" means (choose one):

    1. It still looked like yeast
    2. The beer was a bit lumpy, but drinkable.
    3. it didn't morph into a giant killing beast [youtube.com] or grey goo [wikipedia.org].
    4. The yeast took over, and typed that bit of the report.

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Funny=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Funny' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   3  

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 04 2018, @10:34AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 04 2018, @10:34AM (#717174)

    The fact it worked - at all - is quite amazing.

    Imagine us doing that with poorly understood binary blobs.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by RS3 on Saturday August 04 2018, @01:43PM (1 child)

      by RS3 (6367) on Saturday August 04 2018, @01:43PM (#717198)

      Early experiments on poorly understood binary blobs produced the first Anonymous Coward.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 04 2018, @07:39PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 04 2018, @07:39PM (#717302)

        and we have taken over...mostly.