Abstract
Minimal cells comprise only the genes and biomolecular machinery necessary for basic life. Synthesizing minimal and minimized cells will improve understanding of core biology, enhance development of biotechnology strains of bacteria, and enable evolutionary optimization of natural and unnatural biopolymers. Design and construction of minimal cells is proceeding in two different directions: 'top-down' reduction of bacterial genomes in vivo and 'bottom-up' integration of DNA/RNA/protein/membrane syntheses in vitro. Major progress in the past 5 years has occurred in synthetic genomics, minimization of the Escherichia coli genome, sequencing of minimal bacterial endosymbionts, identification of essential genes, and integration of biochemical systems.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 697-703 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Current Opinion in Biotechnology |
Volume | 21 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 2010 |
Funding
We are grateful to George Church for advice and comments on the manuscript and John Glass, John McCutcheon, and Michael Sismour for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health and National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (to MCJ and ACF), the National Science Foundation (to MCJ), and the American Cancer Society (to ACF).
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Bioengineering
- Biotechnology
- Biomedical Engineering