In a study published yesterday in Nature Chemistry, scientists from the University of Southampton describe a new method for synthesizing genes.
The method described uses click chemistry for DNA ligation, while current methods use enzymes for this purpose. Unlike enzyme-based approaches, click chemistry ligation allows epigenetic information and/or modified bases to be incorporated into specific sites on the genome.
Though this click chemistry method introduces ‘scarring’ in the DNA backbone, the researchers were able to demonstrate its effective use in gene assembly by preparing an epigenetically modified variant of a gene that encodes a protein in Escherichia coli.
"Our approach is a significant breakthrough in gene synthesis. Not only have we demonstrated assembly of a gene using click-chemistry, we have also shown that the resulting strand of DNA is fully functional in bacteria, despite the scars formed by joining fragments,” explains Ali Tavassoli, professor of chemical biology at the University of Southampton, who led the study.
The new approach could also open the door for faster production of large DNA strands and allow larger quantities of a single gene to be produced. It could someday also be used to create automated gene assembly workflows, saving time and money.
Image: Artist's impression of the click-DNA process. Image courtesy of Karl Harrison.