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Category: genetics – Page 189

Marriage of synthetic biology and 3D printing produces programmable living materials

Scientists are harnessing cells to make new types of materials that can grow, repair themselves and even respond to their environment. These solid “engineered living materials” are made by embedding cells in an inanimate matrix that’s formed in a desired shape. Now, researchers report in ACS Central Science that they have 3D printed a bioink containing plant cells that were then genetically modified, producing programmable materials. Applications could someday include biomanufacturing and sustainable construction.

A small factor makes a big impact on genome editing

Through years of engineering gene-editing systems, researchers have developed a suite of tools that enable the modification of genomes in living cells, akin to “genome surgery.” These tools, including ones based on a natural system known as CRISPR/Cas9, offer enormous potential for addressing unmet clinical needs, underscored by the recent FDA approval of the first CRISPR/Cas9-based therapy.

A relatively new approach called “prime editing” enables gene-editing with exceptional accuracy and high versatility, but has a critical tradeoff: variable and often low efficiency of edit installation. In other words, while prime edits can be made with high precision and few unwanted byproducts, the approach also often fails to make those edits at reasonable frequencies.

In a paper that appeared in print in the journal Nature on April 18, 2024, Princeton scientists Jun Yan and Britt Adamson, along with several colleagues, describe a more efficient prime editor.

Enhanced CRISPR method enables stable insertion of large genes into the DNA of higher plants

Scientists at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB) have succeeded for the first time in stably and precisely inserting large gene segments into the DNA of higher plants very efficiently. To do this, they optimized the gene-editing method CRISPR/Cas, commonly known as “genetic scissors.”

The improved CRISPR method offers great opportunities for the targeted modification of genes in higher plants, both for breeding and research. The study, led by Prof. Alain Tissier and Dr. Tom Schreiber, has been published in Molecular Plant.

CRISPR/Cas is a method with enormous potential for the targeted modification of individual genes. However, this does not apply to all kinds of genetic modifications that breeders and scientists have on their wish lists. While the genetic scissors are ideal for knocking out genes, i.e., switching off or removing existing genes, they do not work well for precisely inserting genes or replacing gene segments. To date, genetic scissors have been too inefficient and therefore of little use for the targeted insertion of genes into the DNA of higher plants.

Biologists Construct Groundbreaking Tree of Life Using 1.8 Billion Letters of Genetic Code

A recent study published in the journal Nature by an international team of 279 scientists, including three biologists from the University of Michigan, provides the latest insights into the flowering plant tree of life.

Using 1.8 billion letters of genetic code from more than 9,500 species covering almost 8,000 known flowering plant genera (ca. 60%), this achievement sheds new light on the evolutionary history of flowering plants and their rise to ecological dominance on Earth.

Led by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the research team believes the data will aid future attempts to identify new species, refine plant classification, uncover new medicinal compounds, and conserve plants in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Hadge: a Comprehensive Pipeline For Donor Deconvolution in Single-Cell Studies

Single-cell multiplexing techniques (cell hashing and genetic multiplexing) combine multiple samples, optimizing sample processing and reducing costs. Cell hashing conjugates antibody-tags or chemical-oligonucleotides to cell membranes, while genetic multiplexing allows to mix genetically diverse samples and relies on aggregation of RNA reads at known genomic coordinates. We develop hadge (hashing deconvolution combined with genotype information), a Nextflow pipeline that combines 12 methods to perform both hashing-and genotype-based deconvolution. We propose a joint deconvolution strategy combining best-performing methods and demonstrate how this approach leads to the recovery of previously discarded cells in a nuclei hashing of fresh-frozen brain tissue.

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