Meet Syn57, the Most Stripped-Down Living Synthetic Bacteria Yet
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Summary
Syn57 is the most stripped-down version of living synthetic bacteria made with 100,000 genetic changes, according to scientists at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge.
Syn57 is a bacterium that only needs 55 of the universal DNA codons to grow, rather than the usual 64, and grows four times slower than normal bacteria, although its slower growth can be addressed with further DNA tweaks.
The research could be key to genetic and medical advances, such as repurposing the bacteria into tiny manufacturers that produce important medications, or making them immune to contamination by viruses.
It could also help scientists understand whether the redundancy in genetic code – with some amino acids encoded by several different codons – is an evolutionary fluke or a protective measure.
Such synthetic bacteria also lacks the genetic machinery viruses exploit in infections.
