Publications

Creating bacterial strains from genomes that have been cloned and engineered in yeast

Lartigue C, Vashee S, Algire MA, Chuang RY, Benders GA, Ma L, Noskov VN, Denisova EA, Gibson DG, Assad-Garcia N, Alperovich N, Thomas DW, Merryman C, Hutchison CA, Smith HO, Venter JC, Glass JI

PMID: 19696314

Abstract

We recently reported the chemical synthesis, assembly, and cloning of a bacterial genome in yeast. To produce a synthetic cell, the genome must be transferred from yeast to a receptive cytoplasm. Here we describe methods to accomplish this. We cloned a Mycoplasma mycoides genome as a yeast centromeric plasmid and then transplanted it into Mycoplasma capricolum to produce a viable M. mycoides cell. While in yeast, the genome was altered by using yeast genetic systems and then transplanted to produce a new strain of M. mycoides. These methods allow the construction of strains that could not be produced with genetic tools available for this bacterium.