Synthetic biology
Synthetic Biology · Biotechnology · Molecular Biology
Say it: sin-THET-ik by-OL-uh-jee
Synthetic biology applies engineering design to living systems, building new genetic parts, circuits and genomes so that organisms can do useful jobs.
Also: synbio
Definition
What is synthetic biology?
Synthetic biology treats living cells as systems that can be designed and built. Researchers assemble long stretches of DNA, sometimes borrowed from other species and sometimes entirely new, and place them in an organism so that it gains an ability it did not have before, such as making a medicine, producing a fuel or sensing a chemical in its surroundings.
The field grew out of genetic engineering but adds engineering habits: standard interchangeable parts, designs that can be modeled before they are built, and repeated cycles of building, testing and redesigning whole genetic circuits. Genome editing usually makes small changes to an organism's own DNA, whereas synthetic biology tends to insert larger designed pieces or even build a genome from scratch. A poliovirus genome was assembled from chemically made DNA in 2002, and by 2008 a whole bacterial genome had been built the same way.
Examples include microbes designed to clean up pollution and yeast engineered to make fragrance oils once taken from roses. Because designed organisms could escape or be misused, the field also raises questions of ethics, environmental safety and biosecurity.
Word parts
Where does the term “synthetic biology” come from?
- syn-
- togetherGreek syn
- -thet-
- put, placeGreek tithenai, via synthetikos (skilled in putting together)
- bio-
- lifeGreek bios
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Terms that go with it
- BioBrickA BioBrick is a standardized piece of DNA, such as a promoter or gene, flanked by fixed sequences so it can be joined to other parts in a repeatable way.
- Genetic engineeringGenetic engineering is the direct change of an organism's DNA using laboratory techniques, to add, remove or alter genes and give it new traits.
- Recombinant DNARecombinant DNA is DNA made in the laboratory by joining pieces of DNA from different sources, often different species, into one molecule.
- CRISPRCRISPR is a genome-editing technology, adapted from a bacterial defense system, that uses a guide RNA to direct an enzyme such as Cas9 to cut DNA.
- BioremediationBioremediation is the use of living organisms, mostly microbes and sometimes plants, to break down or remove pollutants from soil, water or air.
- GenomeA genome is the complete set of DNA in an organism or cell, including all of its genes and the stretches of DNA between them.
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Written for biofideX in plain words, after checking these references:
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