Construction of a Bacterial Cell that Contains Only the Set of Essential Genes Necessary to Impart Life

Abstract

Work has continued on the Top Down approach to genome minimization. Because the smallest genome to date grows too slowly to be used in future experiments, we have conducted additional transposon studies and used the data to construct a new, fast growing parental strain. The effort to modularize the genome has been initiated. We have made a modular map of the genome by grouping genes according to function. In the future, we will modularize the genome as much as possible, although we expect that there will be some general genome layout requirements that will make full modularization impossible. Preliminary work aimed at genome complementation has been conducted. A plasmid system for quickly adding back deleted genes will allow us to quickly examine which gene(s) within a deleted cluster might be causing growth defects or cell death.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 16, 2013
Accession Number
ADA578874

Entities

People

  • John I Glass
  • Tony Yee

Organizations

  • J. Craig Venter Institute

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Carrier Proteins
  • Cell Membrane
  • Cell Physiological Processes
  • Cells
  • Construction
  • Contracts
  • Department Of Defense
  • Genes
  • Genome
  • Governments
  • Information Operations
  • Landing Pads
  • Micro-Machines
  • Molecules
  • Polyethylene Glycols
  • Sequences

Fields of Study

  • Biology

Readers

  • Molecular Genetics
  • Software Engineering
  • Systems Analysis and Design