Publication Date:
2016-03-26
Description:
We used whole-genome design and complete chemical synthesis to minimize the 1079-kilobase pair synthetic genome of Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0. An initial design, based on collective knowledge of molecular biology combined with limited transposon mutagenesis data, failed to produce a viable cell. Improved transposon mutagenesis methods revealed a class of quasi-essential genes that are needed for robust growth, explaining the failure of our initial design. Three cycles of design, synthesis, and testing, with retention of quasi-essential genes, produced JCVI-syn3.0 (531 kilobase pairs, 473 genes), which has a genome smaller than that of any autonomously replicating cell found in nature. JCVI-syn3.0 retains almost all genes involved in the synthesis and processing of macromolecules. Unexpectedly, it also contains 149 genes with unknown biological functions. JCVI-syn3.0 is a versatile platform for investigating the core functions of life and for exploring whole-genome design.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Hutchison, Clyde A 3rd -- Chuang, Ray-Yuan -- Noskov, Vladimir N -- Assad-Garcia, Nacyra -- Deerinck, Thomas J -- Ellisman, Mark H -- Gill, John -- Kannan, Krishna -- Karas, Bogumil J -- Ma, Li -- Pelletier, James F -- Qi, Zhi-Qing -- Richter, R Alexander -- Strychalski, Elizabeth A -- Sun, Lijie -- Suzuki, Yo -- Tsvetanova, Billyana -- Wise, Kim S -- Smith, Hamilton O -- Glass, John I -- Merryman, Chuck -- Gibson, Daniel G -- Venter, J Craig -- P41GM103412/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Mar 25;351(6280):aad6253. doi: 10.1126/science.aad6253.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. ; National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. ; Synthetic Genomics, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. ; National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA. ; J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. Synthetic Genomics, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27013737" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Artificial Cells
;
Codon/genetics
;
DNA Transposable Elements
;
DNA, Bacterial/*chemical synthesis/genetics
;
Genes, Essential
;
Genes, Synthetic/genetics/*physiology
;
*Genome, Bacterial
;
Mutagenesis
;
Mycoplasma mycoides/*genetics
;
Proteins/genetics
;
RNA/genetics
;
Synthetic Biology
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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