SoylentNews

takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

A team of scientists has published seven papers describing the design and ongoing creation process for a completely synthetic Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome [npr.org]:

Scientists have taken another important step toward creating different types of synthetic life in the laboratory. An international research consortium [syntheticyeast.org] reports Thursday that it has figured out an efficient method for synthesizing a substantial part of the genetic code of yeast. "We are absolutely thrilled," says Jef Boeke [nyu.edu], a geneticist at New York University School of Medicine, who is leading the project. "This is a significant step toward our goal."

The milestone is the latest development in the intensifying quest to create living, complex organisms from scratch in the lab. This group previously reported [npr.org] it had completely synthesized one of yeast's 16 chromosomes, which are the molecular structures that carry all of an organism's genes.

1. Design of a synthetic yeast genome [sciencemag.org] (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4557) (DX [doi.org])

2. Deep functional analysis of synII, a 770-kilobase synthetic yeast chromosome [sciencemag.org] (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4791) (DX [doi.org])

3. "Perfect" designer chromosome V and behavior of a ring derivative [sciencemag.org] (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4704) (DX [doi.org])

4. Synthesis, debugging, and effects of synthetic chromosome consolidation: synVI and beyond [sciencemag.org] (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4831) (DX [doi.org])

5. Bug mapping and fitness testing of chemically synthesized chromosome X [sciencemag.org] (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4706) (DX [doi.org])

6. Engineering the ribosomal DNA in a megabase synthetic chromosome [sciencemag.org] (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf3981) (DX [doi.org])

7. 3D organization of synthetic and scrambled chromosomes [sciencemag.org] (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4597) (DX [doi.org])

Original Submission