Biological Era 2.0: When people accelerate evolution and create completely new creatures

"Nothing in biology has meaning, except the light of evolution" - Theodosius Dobzhansky.

Thousands of years ago, Homo sapiens began building a close relationship with a single-celled mushroom. At that time, they did not know what the posterity would call themselves Homo sapiens, and this mushroom would be named Saccharomyces cerevisiae .

In fact, S. cerevisiae is the yeast, the creature that helped the Sumerians in Mesopotamia to produce beer more than 8,000 years ago. The milestone marks the time when humans can catch a microscopic creature that serves their purpose.

And until now, nem mushroom has continued to help us produce ethanol and insulin, serving countless areas of life and laboratory work.

But can the relationship between Homo sapiens and S. cerevisiae go further? The answer leaves yes - at least when Jef Boeke knows how to do this.

The Director of the Institute of System Genetics at New York University is leading a group of hundreds of international researchers. Boeke's aim is to synthesize all 12.5 million genetic characters that make up the genome of yeast.

This can help refine them into new species. New yeast species will be called Sc2.0 (Synthetic Yeast 2.0). They will not only help humans create beer, but also many other useful substances.

"In the next 10 years, synthetic biology will produce all kinds of compounds and materials with microorganisms , " Boeke said. 'We hope that our yeast will play a big role in it.'

Over 8,000 years ago, yeast helped Sumerians make beer.Now, the era of yeast 2.0 is about to begin.

Think about Boeke's project like Henry Ford built the first car. And until now, how many types of cars are out there?

Sc2.0 is a project that was started, with the main purpose still being to design better yeasts, for them to produce useful chemicals for humans. Natural evolution has optimized yeast, making them produce a lot of things from beer to yogurt, but with the exception of industrial enzymes and antibiotics.

If we can synthesize artificial genes, we can create yeast strains that not only make yogurt, but also biofuels, cancer drugs, insulin, antibiotics .

It was like the natural selection was fast-rewinded at the bottom of the experimental plate. Finally, it allows us to get gifts from the future, such as a strain of yeast that can help people build new generation industrial plants.

In the near future, we can use a computer software to design the genome. Then instead of DNA editing, you can print even the designed genome. Imagine what scientists will do then, they will be able to print out unique creatures, such as algae that release fuel, plants that are immune to disease or even resurrection. Extinct creatures.

"I think this may be greater than the revolution of space conquest, as well as the computer revolution ," said George Church, a genetic scientist from Harvard Medical School.

Build pyramids in modern times

The work of synthesizing the entire genome of yeast with 12.5 million characters is likened to the ancient Egyptians building pyramids. To build the Giza pyramid, the ancient Egyptians had to trim, move and arrange 2.3 million stones.

A genome of yeast contains all its DNA. The DNA is envisioned as a twisted ladder, made up of two strands that merge the base nucleotide pairs (AT, GC). Such a genome of yeast contains 12.5 million such base pairs.

Now, yeast genome synthesis is something that scientists have to pick up each letter G, T, C, A, combine them into 12.5 million pairs, then put each pair into its place. on the DNA spiral ladder. Exactly one pair at a time, as the Egyptians cut each stone and put each of them into their place on the pyramid.

But there is something else, nucleotides are impossible to grasp by hand. While you had to admire the Egyptians, somehow, the heavy rocks were moved, manipulating the nucleotide molecules, only as small as 1 in 3 billion meters, even more difficult. .

Furthermore, the genome of yeast has more than 5 times the base pairs of the pyramid. Some say that the gods gave the Egyptians two choices, whether they would build pyramids or synthesize the yeast genome.

You know the result, the Egyptians would rather build pyramids and dozens of pyramids.

Previously, scientists have synthesized the genetic structure of viruses and bacteria. However, for yeast work is more difficult. Yeast is an eukaryotic organism - meaning that their genes are concentrated in a nucleus and bundled together into chromosomes - like humans. The genome of eukaryotes is much larger than that of bacteria or viruses.

Moreover, cost is not cheap. Until now, reading the entire DNA of a person could only cost $ 1,000. But that is the cost of reading. In order to create and replace all the genetic characters of yeast, Boeke had to spend 1.25 million. That's not to mention investing in equipment and paying scientists. The total cost of the project has lasted for up to 10 years is significantly more.

Along with the Church, Boeke is one of the leaders of GP-write, an organization that supports efforts to reduce the cost of genetic engineering over the next decade."We have a lot of challenges to face, like any creature on this planet, and biology can make a big impact on it all ," Boeke said. happens when we can cut costs [for research and biological procedures] " .

Understand life and outline evolution

At a scientific conference in 2004, researcher Ronald Davis from Stanford University for the first time proposed that humans could synthesize the genome of yeast. At that time, Boeke was surprised: "Why do people want to do this?".

But Boeke quickly realized how useful it was to synthesize yeast genes. It may be the best way to understand the organism's life and body. By the ability to customize and replace each gene character, you can find out which genes are needed and which genes the body can live without.

Following this understanding, we can find ways to streamline life, optimize or create new forms of life.

Leslie Mitchell is currently a PhD student working at New York University, one of the main designers of the yeast synthesis project."This is another approach to find out how living things work ," she said. "We are exploring the gaps in our knowledge of life, according to the approach. genetics from the bottom up ".

The project also has the support of Joel Bader, a computer scientist at Johns Hopkins University. He pledged to develop a software that simulates the yeast chromosomes on a computer screen. Basically, it will closely monitor their change process. This software is like a Google Docs version for biology.

In 2008, Boeke opened a course at Johns Hopkins University called "Genome Building" . In particular, students will be taught basic molecular biology, after which they will be responsible for assembling a sequence of 10,000 DNA characters for the yeast synthesis project.

Not long after that, some organizations in China were excited about the subject and also participated in sharing the workload. Along with them, there are also volunteers in England, Australia and Japan.

"We assign chromosomes to each group, such as assigning each chapter of the book, and they have the right to decide what to do, as long as it's 100% correct with our design , " Patrick Cai, a synthetic biologist at Manchester University, said the international coordinator of the yeast synthesis project.

Millions of years of evolution are fast-forwarded in experimental plates containing yeast.

What next?

It took eight years for Boeke and his team to publish the first artificial yeast chromosome. After that success, the project has been accelerated. Last March, the next five yeast chromosomes were described in a series of articles published in Science magazine.

Boeke said they have completed more than 80% of all 16 chromosomes. This is the largest amount of genetic material that humans can synthesize and assemble so far.

Boeke and his colleagues not only replaced the natural gene of yeast with the synthetic version. In their DNA, they have already placed molecular holes, like the invisible spaces of magic.

These holes allow them to rearrange the chromosomes of the mushroom like stirring up a deck of cards. As a result, by molecular biology, humans have accelerated the evolution of yeast: Millions of new yeast strains with different biological properties can be created in the laboratory, and then given for medical and industrial purposes.

Mitchell predicts that in the near future, Project Sc2.0 will replace all common yeast species, with yeasts synthesized from scientific laboratories.

The final legacy of Project Sc2.0 can be determined by which genome will be synthesized next. Initially, GP-write thought that they would support the creation of the synthetic genome. Because it is very attractive, under the viewpoint is a great challenge of current science.

But some biologists disagree and strongly criticize this plan. Boeke emphasized that the group will "not do a project to create a human with a synthetic genome". That means there will be no future individuals born after being customized and designed.

Even when putting aside moral arguments aside, synthesizing the complete human genome - 250 times larger than the yeast genome - is not very feasible with current methods. Efforts to improve technology are also lacking funding.

Boeke's research was funded by the US National Science Foundation and research institutes, including partners in China. But GP-write's bigger initiative has not attracted enough interest, apart from the initial $ 250,000 from Autodesk design software production company. In comparison, the Human Genome Project, previously only intended to read the human genome, was funded more than $ 3 billion.

Professor Church is quite disappointed with this."This [synthetic biology] is a revolution that we don't want to be left behind ," he said. "If the federal government and the 50 states do not want to do this, we would rather reap those. the seed we just planted. We will be left behind. "

In the meantime, the work in Boeke's laboratories is still ongoing. Each pair of DNA characters is still being synthesized. On the door of the study room, Boeke was covered with magazine covers and photos of the research team. Between them is a quote from the geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky: "Nothing in biology matters, except the light of evolution."

Whatever the next project Sc2.0 is - one can synthesize the mouse genome, or modify the pig to develop human organs - we are still the organizers outline in evolution. If successful, Sc2.0 could be the next development in the relationship between man and yeast, after we made beer 8,000 years ago.