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Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Algae are highly prized for their ability to make useful products, but a lack of engineering tools has hindered basic research and growth of the industry for decades, researchers say.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh sought to improve the efficiency of gene-editing to increase yields of products currently made using algae, including some food supplements. The advance could also enable algae to make new products, such as medicines.

The technique uses molecules that act like scissors to cut DNA -- called CRISPR molecules -- which allow researchers to add new genes or modify existing ones. Until now, scientists have struggled to develop a technique that works efficiently in algae.

To overcome this, the team added CRISPR molecular scissors and short pieces of DNA directly to algae cells to make precise modifications to the genetic code.

Their new method is more specific and increases efficiency 500-fold compared to previous techniques. The discovery could unleash the potential of the global algae industry, projected to be worth $1.1billion by 2024.

[...] Dr Attila Molnar, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, who led the study, said: "Our findings mark a key advance in large-scale algal genome engineering. Our technique is applicable to a wide range of species, and could pave the way for the development of designer algae, which has many biotechnology applications."

Aron Ferenczi, Douglas Euan Pyott, Andromachi Xipnitou, Attila Molnar. Efficient targeted DNA editing and replacement inChlamydomonas reinhardtiiusing Cpf1 ribonucleoproteins and single-stranded DNA. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017; 201710597 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1710597114

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