Chroniques génomiques - Synthétique, vous avez dit « Synthétique » ?

Abstract

The synthesis of a minimal bacterial genome comprising only 473 genes is an impressive achievement, yet it is only a step towards a really synthetic genome based on first principles: this set of genes was derived from a larger genome by successive elimination of non-essential genes, and 149 of the final 473 genes have no specific (known) biological function. It is nevertheless an important stepping stone towards fully designed minimal genomes.