MOJTABA AMINA new DNA editing system can target specific DNA throughout the bacterial genome in response to chemicals or other stimuli, according to a paper published today (November 13) in Science. The new system, called SCRIBE, for Synthetic Cellular Recorders Integrating Biological Events, could allow researchers to record events happening within or around cells.
The method requires expressing single-stranded DNA and DNA-editing phage beta recombinases in response to signals. “The single-stranded DNA tells the recombinase where to go in the genome, and where to write that information,” explained coauthor Timothy Lu, a synthetic biologist at MIT whose team tested the new system in E. coli. “Essentially you get targeted mutations at a specific locus in the genome.” It is then possible to read the DNA’s experience by sequencing, or by editing the nucleic acid to confer telltale characteristics, such as antibiotic resistance, to the bacteria. Those bacteria that do not die when challenged with the antibiotic were successfully edited.
“I think it’s pretty complicated, to some extent,” said Sri Kosuri, a synthetic biologist at the University of California, Los ...
