Scientists Create the First Living Organism with an Artificial Genome—A historic first in synthetic biology

In less than a decade since the creation of the world’s first single-cell synthetic life form by American life-sciences trailblazer J. Craig Venter, a different team of scientists in the United Kingdom has created an entire living organism using synthetic DNA. Today researchers from the University of Cambridge report in Nature the creation of a new variant of the bacteria E. Coli (Escherichia coli) using a synthetic genome—“writing” the genome to create a novel new organism.

Why E.Coli?

E. Coli can naturally be found in the lower intestines of humans and animals as part of the normal gut microbiota. It consists of a diverse group of mostly harmless strains that is commonly used in laboratory research in biotech, microbiology and life sciences. For example, in the laboratory synthesis of heterologous proteins derived from different organisms, E.Coli is the most widely used prokaryote (a unicellular organism lacking a nucleus, mitochondria, or any membrane-bound organelle).

Recoding the Codons

The research team led by Jason W. Chin of the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, United Kingdom, reported recoding 18,214 codons in order to create a living organism with a 61-codon genome. In the study, the team replaced every “known occurrence of two sense codons and a stop codon in the genome.”

A codon, or triplet, is a sequence of either three DNA or RNA nucleotides that corresponds with a specific amino acid or starts or stops protein synthesis. The full set of codons, the genetic code, includes 64 possible combinations of three-letter nucleotide sequences, of which 61 are amino acids, and the remaining three are stop signals.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid) are the two main classes of nucleic acids. DNA, the blueprint of a cell, carries the genetic information in all free-living organisms and a majority of viruses. DNA is essential for cells to intake nutrients, propagate, and grow. Its structure is a double-strand. DNA can be found in most viruses, prokaryotes, and eukaryotes. It is a polymer of the A (adenine), C (cytosine), G (guanine), and T (thymine) nucleotides.

RNA, a single-stranded polymeric molecule that is present in all living cells. It replaces DNA as the carrier of genetic codes in some viruses, and plays a role in cellular protein synthesis. The nucleotides in RNA consists of adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), or uracil (U).

In this historic study, the researchers not only created a new living organism’s genes with an entirely synthetic, man-made genome, but also with three fewer codons than non-synthetic E.Coli. The team wrote that they created “a variant of Escherichia coli with a four-megabase synthetic genome.”

First there was a single-cell life form created using synthetic DNA called Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0 x nine years ago by the J. Craig Venter Institute. Now scientists have created an entire living organism. These are exciting times for life sciences and biotechnology—scientific advancement is moving at an exponential velocity with groundbreaking discoveries in synthetic biology.

Copyright ? 2019 Cami Rosso All rights reserved.

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References:

Fredens, Julius, Wang, Kaihang, de la Torre, Daniel, Funke, Louise F. H., Robertson, Wesley E., Christova, Yonka, Chia, Tiongsun, Schmied, Wolfgang H., Dunkelmann, Daniel L., Beránek, Václav, Uttamapinant, Chayasith, Llamazares, Andres Gonzalez, Elliott, Thomas S., Chin, Jason W.“ Total synthesis of Escherichia coli with a recoded genome.” Nature. May 15, 2019.

CDC. “E.coli.” Retrieved 5-15-2019 from https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/general/index.html

SY, Lee. “High cell-density culture of Escherichia coli.” Tends Biotechnology.” March 14, 1996.

Encyclopaedia Britannica. “RNA.” Retrieved 5-15-2019 from https://www.britannica.com/science/RNA

Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Prokaryote.” Retrieved 5-15-2019 from https://www.britannica.com/science/prokaryote

The RNA Society. “What is RNA?”’ Retrieved 5-15-2019 from https://www.rnasociety.org/about/what-is-rna/

Scitable.”codon.” Retrieved 5-15-2019 from https://www.nature.com/scitable/definition/codon-155