(26 Jul 2017) How to build a new life form.
Scientists are custom building DNA to learn if they can create organisms with new and useful characteristics.
For now, the cutting edge of this effort is redesigning yeast DNA.
The complete DNA code for yeast contains about 12 million letters.
An international scientific team is now rewriting it.
So how do you redesign DNA?
A computer starts with a chunk of the natural DNA letter sequence, then makes alterations, such as: replacing specific triplets.
That change can allow the yeast to make a protein from building blocks not found in nature.
Another alteration: Move TRNA genes out of their natural positions, to help yeast avoid certain glitches in reproducing.
Another: Insert bits of code that will let researchers shuffle the order of genes in yeast, like a deck of cards.
This could help find new gene arrangements that could enable better growth or performance.
After the alterations are finished, it's time to make DNA.
Strings of code 10,000 letters apiece are turned into DNA in a lab.
These DNA chunks are then stitched together, bit by bit to make the full-length DNA.
This technique is offering scientists new insight into the blueprints of life.
"We are learning new rules about how cells operate by building (DNA) from scratch." NYU researcher Leslie Mitchell.

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