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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Scientists from the J. Craig Venter Institute have created a new synthetic organism with the least amount of genes seemingly possible [genengnews.com]. Almost a third of the organism's genes are of unknown function:

In 2010 the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) shocked the scientific world by creating the first synthetic cell, Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0, which contained slightly over 1 million base pairs and 901 genes. This was a significant achievement in the field of synthetic biology and allowed scientists to ask questions about which genes and metabolic pathways were absolutely essential for sustaining organismal life processes. Yet, the researchers felt they could improve upon their original design and strip away even more genes without compromising the cell's overall health.

Now, the team of scientists from JCVI that were involved with version 1.0 teamed up with researchers from Synthetic Genomics (SGI) to assemble the first minimal synthetic bacterial cell, which they dubbed JCVI-syn3.0. Using JCVI-syn1.0 as a template, the investigators created an organism that has almost half the number of base pairs (531,560) of the original and a total of 473 genes, making it the smallest genome of any organism that can be grown in laboratory media. Astonishingly, of these genes, 149 are of unknown biological function.

Also at The Washington Post [washingtonpost.com], The Atlantic [theatlantic.com], BBC News [bbc.com], and Scientific American [scientificamerican.com]. Here's a story about the "artificial life" breakthrough [bbc.com] from 2010.

Design and synthesis of a minimal bacterial genome [sciencemag.org] (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aad6253)

2010 article: Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome [sciencemag.org] (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.1190719)

Original Submission