Man-Made Chromosome Is a Giant Leap Towards Synthetic Life

A chunk of the genetic blueprint for yeast has been created and pieced together from scratch, paving the way for "designer" organisms that could produce new medicines, food products and biofuels, the creators say.

Researchers took tiny snippets of man-made DNA and joined them together to create a synthetic version of a chromosome, the structure that contains DNA inside cells, from brewer's yeast. The ability to create such chromosomes is a major step for the field of synthetic biology, which aims to engineer microbes to produce useful products. The work also brings scientists closer to creating synthetic plants and animals. Read more...