Scientists have successfully fused the 16 chromosomes of yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae to create new strains that hold almost the entire genome on just one or two. Yeast cells containing the fused chromosomes showed no major defects in growth and displayed only minor alterations in gene expression, suggesting living organisms may be more tolerant to changes in chromosome number and structure than biologists expected. Two independent research groups report these findings in a pair of papers published today (August 1) in Nature.
“Both studies present probably the most dramatic genome reconfiguration that’s been designed and obtained so far,” says Gianni Liti, a geneticist at the Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging in France who was not involved in the studies. “It’s quite surprising that the cells can actually [survive].” Liti penned an accompanying commentary in Nature.
Chromosome number varies drastically across eukaryotes. Humans have 46, the red vizcacha rat ...
