The ethics of synthetic biology research and development:a principlist approach

A principlist approach is adopted to analyse the ethical status of synthetic biology (synbio) research and development. The principle of nonmaleficence generates precaution-driven conclusions that are excessively restrictive to the field of synbio. The principle of beneficence is best served by permitting synbio research to flourish and not have it treated as a special case warranting the imposition of a high degree of external and self-regulation. Synbio may offend the principle of justice in certain circumstances; however, such issues are largely restricted to the initial stages of synbio innovation, whilst in the longer term the development of the field can be expected to promote just ends. The principle of respect for autonomy entails that scientists ought to be afforded a broad scope to freely pursue synbio research and development in a curiosity-driven fashion. In balancing the various conclusions under the four principles, the author concludes that society has an ethical obligation to support the development of synbio research and development and not restrict this important nascent field by the imposition of stern regulation

Applications of CRISPR/Cas Technology to Research the Synthetic Genomics of Yeast

The whole genome projects open the prelude to the diversity and complexity of biological genome by generating immense data. For the sake of exploring the riddle of the genome, scientists around the world have dedicated themselves in annotating for these massive data. However, searching for the exact and valuable information is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Advances in gene editing technology have allowed researchers to precisely manipulate the targeted functional genes in the genome by the state-of-the-art gene-editing tools, so as to facilitate the studies involving the fields of biology, agriculture, food industry, medicine, environment and healthcare in a more convenient way. As a sort of pioneer editing devices, the CRISPR/Cas systems having various versatile homologs and variants, now are rapidly giving impetus to the development of synthetic genomics and synthetic biology. Firstly, in the chapter, we will present the classification, structural and functional diversity of CRISPR/Cas systems. Then we will emphasize the applications in synthetic genome of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) using CRISPR/Cas technology based on year order. Finally, the summary and prospection of synthetic genomics as well as synthetic biotechnology based on CRISPR/Cas systems and their further utilizations in yeast are narrated

Rising influence of synthetic biology in regenerative medicine

Synthetic biology is an emerging area of research that combines the investigative nature of biology with the constructive nature of engineering. Despite the field being in its infancy, it has already aided the development of a myriad of industrially and pharmaceutically useful compounds, devices and therapies and is now being applied within the field of regenerative medicine. By combining synthetic biology with regenerative medicine, the engineering of cells and organisms offers potential avenues for applications in tissue engineering, bioprocessing, biomaterial and scaffold development, stem cell therapies and even gene therapies. This review aims to discuss how synthetic biology has been applied within these distinct areas of regenerative medicine, the challenges it faces and any future possibilities this exciting new field may hold

Recent advances in malaria genomics and epigenomics

Malaria continues to impose a significant disease burden on low- and middle-income countries in the tropics. However, revolutionary progress over the last 3 years in nucleic acid sequencing, reverse genetics, and post-genome analyses has generated step changes in our understanding of malaria parasite (Plasmodium spp.) biology and its interactions with its host and vector. Driven by the availability of vast amounts of genome sequence data from Plasmodium species strains, relevant human populations of different ethnicities, and mosquito vectors, researchers can consider any biological component of the malarial process in isolation or in the interactive setting that is infection. In particular, considerable progress has been made in the area of population genomics, with Plasmodium falciparum serving as a highly relevant model. Such studies have demonstrated that genome evolution under strong selective pressure can be detected. These data, combined with reverse genetics, have enabled the identification of the region of the P. falciparum genome that is under selective pressure and the confirmation of the functionality of the mutations in the kelch13 gene that accompany resistance to the major frontline antimalarial, artemisinin. Furthermore, the central role of epigenetic regulation of gene expression and antigenic variation and developmental fate in P. falciparum is becoming ever clearer. This review summarizes recent exciting discoveries that genome technologies have enabled in malaria research and highlights some of their applications to healthcare. The knowledge gained will help to develop surveillance approaches for the emergence or spread of drug resistance and to identify new targets for the development of antimalarial drugs and perhaps vaccines

Rising influence of synthetic biology in regenerative medicine

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by IET under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Synthetic biology is an emerging area of research that combines the investigative nature of biology with the constructive nature of engineering. Despite the field being in its infancy, it has already aided the development of a myriad of industrially and pharmaceutically useful compounds, devices and therapies and is now being applied within the field of regenerative medicine. By combining synthetic biology with regenerative medicine, the engineering of cells and organisms offers potential avenues for applications in tissue engineering, bioprocessing, biomaterial and scaffold development, stem cell therapies and even gene therapies. This review aims to discuss how synthetic biology has been applied within these distinct areas of regenerative medicine, the challenges it faces and any future possibilities this exciting new field may hold

Synthetic Genomics

The current advances in sequencing, data mining, DNA synthesis, cloning, in silico modeling, and genome editing have opened a new field of research known as Synthetic Genomics. The main goal of this emerging area is to engineer entire synthetic genomes from scratch using pre-designed building blocks obtained by chemical synthesis and rational design. This has opened the possibility to further improve our understanding of genome fundamentals by considering the effect of the whole biological system on biological function. Moreover, the construction of non-natural biological systems has allowed us to explore novel biological functions so far not discovered in nature. This book summarizes the current state of Synthetic Genomics, providing relevant examples in this emerging field

Engineering Yeast for the Production of Biologicals

The market for biopharmaceutical proteins, or biologicals, has been expanding rapidly over the last decades and its value was estimated in 2020 to exceed 300 billion US dollars. Efficient cell factories that produce the biologicals fulfill an essential role within this industry. Around 20% of the current biologicals are produced in the yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this thesis, I focus on the engineering of S. cerevisiae as a cell factory for biologicals; Affibody molecules, filgrastim, adalimumab, and insulin precursor. The first strategy focuses on the role of the eIF2α kinase Gcn2 in S. cerevisiae. Upon removal of the kinase Gcn2 we showed effectiveness to improve the production of the model protein α-amylase and performed initial experiments on the influence of the removal of the kinase Gcn2 on the production of adalimumab. Our results indicate a novel role of the eIF2α kinase Gcn2 in S. cerevisiae. \ua0Secondly, I focused on the removal of vacuolar proteases from S. cerevisiae. The proteolytic degradation of recombinant proteins by yeast is a known phenomenon that reduces production yield. I identified and removed the specific proteases that degrade the synthetic biologicals, Affibody molecules, which resulted in the production of intact and functional Affibody molecules and I concluded the study with a high production experiment. Additionally, I removed the severe degradation phenotype of a previously engineered S. cerevisiae strain and implemented that strain for the production of filgrastim and adalimumab. As a final strategy, I used two proteome constrained genome-scale models of S. cerevisiae as engineering guides. One model, ecYeast8, suggested overexpression targets that combined into one strain improved the titers of filgrastim, adalimumab, and insulin precursor. The other model pcSecYeast proved effective to improve insulin precursor and resulted in a 10-fold increase of final insulin precursor concentration. The results presented in this thesis will contribute to the improvement of S. cerevisiae as a production host for biologicals and other recombinant proteins

Entre el ser o no ser OGMs: edición genómica mediante CRISPR-Cas9, regulación y mejoramiento genético en plantas, la redefinición del concepto de organismo genéticamente modificado

509 páginas. Doctorado en Sociología.La edición de genomas de plantas sin introducir ADN extraño en las células puede evitar las preocupaciones regulatorias relacionadas con las plantas genéticamente modificadas (Woo et al., 2015). Aunque las tecnologías de edición de genomas facilitan el cultivo eficiente de plantas sin introduci r un transgén, está creando desafíos regulatorios con respecto al estado actual para organismos genéticamente modificados (OGM). Los rápidos avances en el fitomejoramiento por la edición de genomas requieren el establecimiento de una nueva política global y alinear las políticas nacionales para la nueva biotecnología, a la vez que llenan la brecha entre las regulaciones fundamentadas en los procesos y en los productos basados en OGM. Este documento se genera en medio del debate sobre si las plantas resultantes de estas técnicas y sus productos están cubiertos por la legislación sobre OGM. La cobertura de la legislación sobre OGM en el uso de NPBT2 significa pasar por todo el procedimiento riguroso de la evaluación de riesgo, los costos asociados a todo el trámite de las autoridades y a los tiempos estipulados para cada etapa del proceso de aprobación de OGM en la Unión Europea (EU) (Sheldon, 2004; Hartung y Schiemann, 2014). En América Latina algunos investigadores de México, Colombia y Argentina han presentado interés y han iniciado la utilización del sistema CRISPR-Cas9 en el mejoramiento genético de plantas por la facilidad técnica y la ventaja regulatoria que presenta la comercialización de los productos bajo esquemas técnicos particulares