Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, 430071, China.
Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, Hubei, 442000, China.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2018 Feb 12;57(7):1748-1756. doi: 10.1002/anie.201708741. Epub 2018 Jan 4.
Rapid technological advances enabling the construction of designer gene networks, biosynthetic pathways, and even entire genomes are moving the fields of genetics and genomics from descriptive to synthetic applications. Following the synthesis of small viral genomes, advances in DNA assembly and rewriting have enabled the hierarchical synthesis of bacterial genomes, such as Mycoplasma genitalium, as well as recoding of the Escherichia coli genome by reducing the number of codons from 64 to 57. The field has advanced to the point of synthesizing an entire eukaryotic genome. The Synthetic Yeast Genome Project (Sc2.0) is underway and aims to rewrite all 16 Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosomes by 2018; to date, 6.5 chromosomes have been designed and synthesized. Using bottom-up assembly and applying genome-wide alterations will improve our understanding of genome structure and function. This approach will not only provide a platform for systematic studies of eukaryotic chromosomes but will also generate diverse "streamlined" strains that are potentially suitable for medical and industrial applications. Herein, we review the current state of synthetic genome research and discuss potential applications of this emerging technology.
快速发展的技术使构建设计基因网络、生物合成途径甚至整个基因组成为可能，这使得遗传学和基因组学领域从描述性应用转向合成性应用。在合成小型病毒基因组之后，DNA 组装和重写方面的进展使细菌基因组（如生殖道支原体）的层次合成以及通过将密码子数量从 64 减少到 57 对大肠杆菌基因组进行重编码成为可能。该领域已经发展到可以合成整个真核基因组的地步。合成酵母基因组计划（Sc2.0）正在进行中，目标是在 2018 年前重写所有 16 条酿酒酵母染色体；迄今为止，已经设计和合成了 6.5 条染色体。使用自下而上的组装并应用全基因组改变将提高我们对基因组结构和功能的理解。这种方法不仅将为真核染色体的系统研究提供一个平台，而且还将产生潜在适用于医学和工业应用的各种“简化”菌株。本文综述了合成基因组研究的现状，并讨论了这一新兴技术的潜在应用。
