
Scientists create ‘designer yeast’ in major step toward synthetic life - daegloe
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/03/09/scientists-create-designer-yeast-in-major-step-toward-synthetic-life/
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_rpd
Here's the paper cited by the article ...

[http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/1040](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/1040)

Abstract:

We describe complete design of a synthetic eukaryotic genome, Sc2.0, a highly
modified Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome reduced in size by nearly 8%, with
1.1 megabases of the synthetic genome deleted, inserted, or altered. Sc2.0
chromosome design was implemented with BioStudio, an open-source framework
developed for eukaryotic genome design, which coordinates design modifications
from nucleotide to genome scales and enforces version control to
systematically track edits. To achieve complete Sc2.0 genome synthesis,
individual synthetic chromosomes built by Sc2.0 Consortium teams around the
world will be consolidated into a single strain by “endoreduplication
intercross.” Chemically synthesized genomes like Sc2.0 are fully customizable
and allow experimentalists to ask otherwise intractable questions about
chromosome structure, function, and evolution with a bottom-up design
strategy.

~~~
skosuri
Actually, it's 7 papers co-published in Science simultaneously.

The others are:

Synthesis, debugging, and effects of synthetic chromosome consolidation: synVI
and beyond:
[http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/eaaf4831](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/eaaf4831)

“Perfect” designer chromosome V and behavior of a ring derivative:
[http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/eaaf4704](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/eaaf4704)

Deep functional analysis of synII, a 770-kilobase synthetic yeast chromosome:
[http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/eaaf4791](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/eaaf4791)

Bug mapping and fitness testing of chemically synthesized chromosome X:
[http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/eaaf4706](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/eaaf4706)

Engineering the ribosomal DNA in a megabase synthetic chromosome:
[http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/eaaf3981](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/eaaf3981)

3D organization of synthetic and scrambled chromosomes:
[http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/eaaf4597](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/eaaf4597)

Along with an introduction:
[http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/1038](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/1038)

and perspective:
[http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/1024](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6329/1024)

~~~
sytelus
Are there any good resources to start in this field for non-biology majors? It
seems they have now full end-to-end simulation so one can program yeast and
even test it out at some extent with nothing but just a computer.

~~~
skosuri
They don't have that at all. This was a Herculean effort over 5 years with
very few actual changes to the natural genome. I don't mean to make it seem
not impressive (it is ambitious and impressive); it's that we are so far away
from an end to end simulation of anything even orders of magnitude simpler
than yeast.

------
somebodynew
With the pace of advancements in gene editing and the availability of biology
maker-spaces, I expect that we're soon going to find out that the "3D printed
guns" issue of hobbyist biology will be simple cells like yeast modified to
synthesize illegal drugs. It may not be as efficient as industrial chemistry
could be, but it only takes one entity producing such a cell before it will
become a mainstay of illicit bathtubs everywhere. Every time I see an article
like this I wonder why it hasn't already happened. We already have yeast that
produce the active ingredients in cannabis, and I suspect the only reason
nobody cares is because many people just grow plants anyway. How will this be
handled once we can go a step further and make completely new genes that can
make artificial drugs like LSD?

~~~
ceejayoz
Relevant:
[http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/09/17/223345977/aut...](http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/09/17/223345977/auto-
brewery-syndrome-apparently-you-can-make-beer-in-your-gut)

> The patient had an infection with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Cordell says. So
> when he ate or drank a bunch of starch — a bagel, pasta or even a soda — the
> yeast fermented the sugars into ethanol, and he would get drunk.
> Essentially, he was brewing beer in his own gut. Cordell and McCarthy
> reported the case of "auto-brewery syndrome" a few months ago in the
> International Journal of Clinical Medicine.

~~~
dpatrick86
Getting infected with an illicit-chemical producing variant of that might be
quite inconvenient!

~~~
M_Grey
Just being infected with that, and being pulled over with a high BAC would be
too. Clever way to get someone out of the way too, without killing them. Who
would believe a drunk driver vs. their blood test results and a video of them
obviously intoxicated?

------
c0brac0bra
But what does the beer it makes taste like?

~~~
simtel20
Sadly they have started with bakers yeast so any beer will probably taste bad.

~~~
skadamou
"In the past, there were two types of beer yeast: ale yeast (the "top-
fermenting" type, Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and lager yeast (the "bottom-
fermenting" type, Saccharomyces uvarum, formerly known as Saccharomyces
carlsbergensis). Today, as a result of recent reclassification of
Saccharomyces species, both ale and lager yeast strains are considered to be
members of S. cerevisiae. "

[https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/101/yeast/](https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/101/yeast/)

------
dekhn
Does the new genome contain overlapping genes? Natural Yeast have a number of
overlapping genes. It would be really neat, since you can make synthetic
chromosomes, to compare the effects of making genes overlap. This has
implications (various RNA surveillance mechanisms can interfact with pairs of
mRNAs that hybridize).

------
vikingcaffiene
Do you want zombies? Because this is how you get zombies. ;-)

~~~
vikingcaffiene
Really with the downvotes??? Here let me try again in a more proper HN way:

[collegiate voice]

This is an exciting development and a massive step forward for the scientific
community. However one must be careful to examine the ethical implications of
such research as it can have unintended consequences. Creating new lifeforms
without taking the time to fully understand the impact it would have on our
fragile ecosystem could potentially be disastrous.

[/end collegiate voice]

In other words, we might make zombies. Geez downvoters, lighten up.

