BEIJING: A recent breakthrough in synthetic biology in Tianjin could pave the way for new treatments for genetic diseases like sickle cell disease and congenital deafness.
A study published in the science methodology journal Nature Methods on July 10 by a team of scientists from Tianjin University claimed to have synthesized a human genome fragment exceeding one million base pairs in length, and successfully transferred it into mice embryos to verify its function.
According to those involved, this achievement marks a significant advancement in human genome synthesis and transfer technology.
The human genome is closely linked to human life, health and disease. Since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, scientists have been trying to synthesize the human genome, but have long struggled with technological bottlenecks.
Over 50 percent of the human genome consists of complex repetitive sequences, posing a considerable challenge to precise synthesis.
“It’s like a jigsaw puzzle with millions of pieces, many of which look very similar, making the assembly extremely challenging,” said Yuan Yingjin, who led the team.
Yuan, who is also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the State Key Lab of Synthetic Biology, said that even if long genome fragments are synthesized, validating their genetic function is difficult without transferring them into an animal.
Yuan’s team has developed the SynNICE method to tackle this problem.
“Using this method, we have for the first time completed the synthesis of high-repetition human DNA at the million-base-pair level and efficiently transferred this fragment intact into early mice embryos using a yeast nucleus as the transfer shuttle,” Yuan said.
Internationally, most research teams in human DNA synthesis are still working at the hundred-kilo-base-pair level and find it challenging to efficiently transfer DNA into mammalian embryos.
This makes this latest development a significant leap forward.
“For decades, scientists have enhanced their understanding of the human genome through sequencing and reading information. By adopting a bottom-up approach to synthesize genes from basic units, we can more directly reveal causal relationships among genome sequences, functions and diseases,” Yuan said.
“Scientists are no longer content merely to ‘read’ and ‘edit’ the book of life — they now have the ability to ‘write’ new chapters in it,” he added. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
