American group of scientists raised an artificial cell that is able to share with the formation of other such cells. The body was created on the basis of the simplest synthetic cell created five years ago, which had 473 genes, but during the division produced subsidiaries of various shapes and sizes. The scientific work is described in the article published in the Cell magazine.
In 2010, the scientists of the Craig Venter institute designed the first cell with a synthetic genome based on mycoplasm bacterial. All DNA in these organisms was replaced with a synthesized, and the resulting organism was called JCVI-SYN1.0. Since then, researchers have worked on a decrease in the genome to the lowest possible sizes. As a result, JCVI-SYN3.0 was obtained, which had problems with division. Now researchers have added 19 genes, including seven genes necessary for normal reproduction.
Biologists constructed dozens of options, adding and removing genes, and were observed as genetic changes affected the growth and division of cells. For observations, a microfluidic hempate was used with suitable conditions for cell life, which made it possible to fall asleep organisms using a light microscope.
However, scientists know about the role of only two genes from seven, added organism for normal cell division. In new studies, experts plan to explore the functions of the remaining DNA. Synthetic cells themselves are a convenient platform for studying the values of certain areas of genome.