A team of researchers have redesigned and produced a functioning synthetic yeast chromosome, which many believe is an important step towards the creation of artificial life.
The synthetic yeast chromosome is 272,871 base pairs long, representing around 2.5 percent of the 12-million-base-pair, according to a recent study.
Research was published in the journal Science1 and reported by Nature.
The yeast chromosome has also been stripped of some DNA sequences and other elements.
As a eukaryote, the baker's yeast named saccharomyces cerevisiae has a "very complex genome," according to the study.
The category also includes other animals and humans.
The project wouldn't have happened without Jef Boeke, a yeast geneticist at the New York University, and his team, who set out to synthesise the baker's yeast genome with more drastic alterations than those completed by previous scientists.
"This is a pretty impressive demonstration of not just DNA synthesis, but redesign of an entire eukaryotic chromosome," said Farren Isaacs, a bioengineer at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, according to the study.
The seven-year-long project involved piecing together some 273,871 DNA components.
It is clear to see the researchers are trying to pave the way for a new era of biology based on the redesigned genomes.
"I was not skeptical about whether it could be done. The question was how can we make this different from a normal chromosome and put something into it that's really going to make it worthwhile?" Boeke added.
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