A 17-year project to craft a synthetic genome for yeast cells has reached a watershed. Researchers revealed this week in 10 new papers that they have created designer versions of all yeast chromosomes and incorporated almost half of them into cells that can survive and reproduce. “It’s a milestone we have been working on for a long time,” says geneticist Jef Boeke of NYU Langone Health, director of the project.
“It’s a very impressive body of work,” says synthetic biologist Sanjay Vashee of the J. Craig Venter Institute, who wasn’t connected to any of the studies.
Researchers have tinkered with the genomes of yeast and many other organisms using editing technologies such as CRISPR. But building a new version from the ground up opens the way to making bigger changes to an organism’s genome and delving deeper into its organization, function, and evolution.
Assuming we survive, at some point gene selection, manipulation and fabrication will end all racial and lineage pride and shame. Would-be parents will select the best. ABN
American Buddhist Net 