Discovery in synthetic biology a step closer to new industrial revolution

February 11, 2013 |

In England, scientists with the Imperial College London say they have devised a much quicker method that does away with the need for them to re-engineer a cell every time they want to make a new part. The team say their work could lead to vast new libraries of off-the-shelf components that could be used to build more sophisticated biological factories. This was achieved using a test tube outside of a cell.

This involves extracting from cells the machinery that produces mRNA and proteins and providing the energy and building blocks to help them survive in test tubes. The team then add their re-programmed DNA to the solution and observe how it functions. The advantage of this method is that scientists can develop liters of this cell-like environment so that multiple re-programmed DNA can be tested simultaneously, which speeds up the production process of parts.

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