International Research Consortium to Build World's First Synthetic Yeast
July 17, 2013| |
An international team of researchers working on the project Sc2.0 are working together to build the world's first synthetic version of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome. This global effort when completed, will be the first time scientists are able to build the whole genome of a eukaryotic organism. Different teams from universities in the United Kingdom, United States, China, and India are responsible for building each of the 16 individual yeast chromosomes that will comprise the complete genome.
Dr. Jef Boeke, professor of molecular biology and genetics from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will be the coordinator of Sc2.0. He said "Sc 2.0, once completed, will provide unparalleled opportunities for asking profound questions about biology in new and interesting ways."
The Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome was chosen for the project because its 6,000 genes make it relatively small and scientists are already very familiar with it. To complete the work, a new suite of bioinformatics software and detailed genome engineering methods are being developed and these, alongside the highly-evolvable synthetic yeast strains themselves, will be made an open-access resource to advance research in numerous fields.
More information about the project are available from the Sc2.0 website at http://syntheticyeast.org/team/. The news release is available at http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/news/research-technologies/2013/130711-pr-funding-to-build-worldfirst-synthetic-yeast.aspx.
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