What are synthetic biologists creating with engineered organisms?
Scientists are programming living cells like software, building organisms that never existed in nature.
The answer
Synthetic biology has entered a new era of capability. In 2023, researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute continued refining JCVI-syn3A, a minimal synthetic cell with only 473 genes - fewer than any naturally occurring organism. Companies like Ginkgo Bioworks and Zymergen engineer microbes to produce everything from spider silk proteins to sustainable aviation fuel. Synthetic yeast strains now manufacture artemisinin, the antimalarial drug, at industrial scale. The Sc2.0 project aims to build an entirely synthetic yeast genome from scratch, with 6 of 16 chromosomes completed by 2024. DARPA's Living Foundries program has funded organisms that detect environmental toxins and self-healing biological materials for military applications.
Source: Nature Biotechnology
- synthetic biology
- bioengineering
- minimal cell
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