Big Step Towards "Designer" Genes

A group of scientists, compiled from around the world were able to create the first successful gene synthesis in a eukaryotic organism. Up until this point, genes were only able to be synthesized and successfully reproduced in prokaryotic organisms like bacteria. As far as yeast's genetic milestones go, this is the biggest accomplishment since 1996 when yeast's genome was originally mapped. Within the last 7 years, scientists have put together 273,871 base pairs of DNA, which is still shorter than the typical yeast DNA of 316,667 base pairs. They made over 50,000 changes to the DNA, and the yeast not only lived, but reproduced. Researchers hope that this accomplishment will help them synthesize yeast quickly in order to help manufacture medicines for diseases like malaria. This is a great advancement for the field of synthetic biology.

For me, I tend to agree that this is a really great accomplishment, especially because of the potential of synthesizing other eukaryotic cells. For researchers to successfully write in genes, they are able to correct gene mutations and this could greatly help humans, obviously. While I am not a big supporter of "designer babies," where people pick certain physical traits that they want, I do believe that we should use our knowledge to create healthy babies. The potential for this research is unimaginable, and I look forward to learning of further advancements in the field of synthetic biology.

Link for the article: http://www.science20.com/news_articles/synthetic_biology_first_functional_designer_chromosome_in_yeast_synthesized-132812

Link for related: http://discovermagazine.com/2014/jan-feb/23-synthesizing-supply-for-malaria-drug