US researchers created in a laboratory the smallest existing feasible genome in nature, which contains the minimum number of genes needed for an organism to function and autorreproduzca, a new breakthrough to unravel the mysteries of life.
The synthetic genome of this microbe called Syn 3.0 has only 473 genes. By comparison, a human being has about 20,000 and a Japanese flower called japonica Paris, with the largest genome known to date, has fifty times more.
The team accomplished this feat is directed by Craig Venter, the pioneer of DNA sequencing, who also created the first controlled by a synthetic genome in 2010 body.
researchers have created this genome at least have not yet been able to determine features 149 of these 473 genes, one third of the total, as explained in their published Thursday in the Science work.
the creation of this endowed cell only with genes necessary for life to exist in its most basic form, could help understand the function of each absolutely essential to life gene, according to biologists.
“the best way to understand life is to create the genome simpler, “said Craig Venter during a telephone press conference.
” If you do not understand how to fly a Boeing 777, remove the parts one by one until the aircraft can no longer fly. “
This is the principle that the scientist and his team, including Clyde Hutchison, used with the genome of a Mycoplasma bacterium, known to have the smallest genomes of all living cells capable of self-replication.
they created hypothetically minimalist genomes in eight different segments to test and identify essential genes and those that are not.
During this process, the researchers also tried to identify the “most essential” called genes necessary to ensure robust growth of the organism, but are not essential for life.
to test these genes, scientists have inserted foreign gene sequences to disrupt its functions and determine which were necessary for life bacteria.
the scientists repeated the experiment until they get the smallest genome able to function.
non-essential genes
His work also revealed that some genes, classified as “non-essential” perform certain functions that are essential and must be maintained in the genome for life.
Almost all the genes necessary for the reading and expression of genetic information and the preservation of information and its transmission between generations are also conserved in the genome.
Many of them have been found in other organisms, suggesting that could encode universal proteins whose functions have not yet been defined, according to the researchers.
Scientists consider the creation of this artificial genome least significant progress.
“this is an important step in the creation of a living cell whose genome is fully defined, “said Chris Voigt, a biologist at the Institute of Technology of Massachusetts (MIT) in Cambridge (US northeast).
However, adds the scientist, is to define the role of these 149 genes that remain unknown Syn 3.0 and promise to bring new information on the biological basis of life. (I)
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