Archive for the ‘Genome’ Category
2009
“A new genetic engineering technique could make it as easy to rewrite a genome as it is to read it.
Using the process, which grafts pieces of synthetic DNA into the genomes of dividing cells, researchers generated 15 billion different genomic patterns in just three days. The process would normally take years, and could eventually be used to produce industrial chemicals, drugs, fuel and anything else that comes out of bacteria.
‘Automated sequencing really advanced the way we can read genetic information. We hope automated genome engineering will advance the way we write genetic information,’ said Harris Wang, a Harvard University biophysicist.
Earlier methods of manipulating genomes involved a painstaking biological cut-and-paste process, with target genes removed, tweaked and reinserted, one at a time. Alternatively, bioengineers could use a mutagen that turned genomes to hash.
But Wang and George Church — a co-author of the study, and a pioneer in DNA synthesis, genome sequencing and all-purpose biotechnological wizardry — want to speed that process up.
Their technique, known as Multiplex Automated Genome Engineering, or MAGE, starts with single-stranded pieces of DNA, custom synthesized to fit on target sections of a genome. In a microscopic remix of the famous Dr. Frankenstein movie scene, a target cell is then jolted with energy, opening holes in its membrane. The DNA flows inside. When the cell divides, it uses the new DNA in copying itself.”
source: wired.com