trends
2 . BUILD
The new DNA is inserted into the genome of a microbe .
Food and agriculture
Novel yeast and bacteria can feed on agricultural waste to produce molecules that are rare or difficult to extract in nature , such as vanillin , grapefruit and mint .
Engineered biosensors can detect rot in potatoes , arsenic in drinking water and parasite infections .
For example , researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology ( NIST ), the J . Craig Venter Institute ( JCVI ) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology created a synthetic , single-celled organism that can reproduce itself . To accomplish this , they stripped out all the DNA from a cell of mycoplasma , a very simple bacterium . Then , they inserted new DNA that had been designed on a computer and synthesized in the lab . Previous synthetic cells produced by the JCVI could reproduce , but the daughter cells were random in shape and size . By adding genes one at a time , the team was able to engineer an organism that reproduced correctly — just as a natural cell would .
This is a stepping stone to designing more complex cells from scratch , according to Elizabeth Strychalski , Ph . D ., researcher and leader of NIST ’ s Cellular Engineering Group . “ To design and build a cell that does exactly what you want it to do , it helps to have a list of essential parts and know how they fit together . In a nutshell , you ’ re adding genes one at a time and seeing if there ’ s improvement ,” Strychalski says .
We ’ re already seeing the benefits of genetically engineered organisms , from the algae that produce biofuels to the yeast that makes the Impossible Burger meaty , to Pfizer- BioNTech ’ s and Moderna ’ s COVID-19 vaccines . But stripping out genes from a complex organism — even one as relatively simple as an alga or yeast — is difficult , and the results are unpredictable .
If scientists could understand the function of every gene in a cell , they could more quickly and efficiently design organisms for specific purposes .
Strychalski says , “ Once you know what all those genes are doing , you are much better positioned to change that genome so you can achieve a function that could help you solve
19