CRISPR technology has given scientists the ability to “tune” DNA and remove defective genes from the molecule. Specialists from the field of synthetic biology have gone further and want to introduce the principles of engineering into science. What does it mean?
The scientific publication SingularityHub highlights four technologies that have the potential to revolutionize genetic engineering in the near future.
1. Design genome
At this stage in the development of science, it is impossible to understand in advance what the genome of a particular person will look like: it is impossible to imagine what combinations of parental genes will form and what other conditions will affect the formation of DNA. However, in theory it is possible. For example, scientists from the international project Synthetic Yeast 2.0 have already taken the first steps in this direction. They model the results of changes in sequences in the genome. Machine learning helps them in this, which collects a huge amount of biological data, in order to then create a model of the genome based on them.
2. Synthesis of DNA
DNA synthesis, or in other words replication, is the formation of a new molecule based on the original one. During cell division, each new cell receives DNA that completely matches the DNA of the mother cell. DNA synthesis ensures the transfer of hereditary information.
Scientists have been synthesizing DNA for decades, but only a short stretch of just a few hundred base pairs. A genome is a long sequence of several thousand base pairs. Theoretically, a genome can be designed by stitching together many small sections of DNA. However, this process is very laborious and long, because of which scientists can make a lot of mistakes. That is why geneticists are now developing new enzymes that can reduce errors and improve the quality of the resulting sequences.
3. Genome editing
Scientists already know how to edit the genome, but they still cannot make serious changes to it. If geneticists learn to do this, it may not even be necessary in the future to develop the technology to write the genome from scratch. Advanced editing will be possible when experts can prevent the “rivalry” of several RNAs that “tell” where in the genome to make changes.
4. Artificial chromosomes
DNA is packaged in chromosomes, the number and shape of which vary by species. Now scientists are working on the creation of artificial chromosomes. In theory, instead of 46 chromosomes, a person can have 47, and this extra chromosome will contain genes introduced by scientists. It can be absolutely any gene – for example, protecting against HIV or another serious disease. So far, geneticists have been able to create artificial yeast and bacterial chromosomes.