Bio-Bites!

Transgenic plant source for Omega-3 fatty acids

Omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) have proven dietary health benefits and are thus regarded as a vital component of a healthy diet. Currently, the main dietary source for these oils is marine fish. A team of scientists from the Department of Biological Chemistry and Crop Protection at Rothamsted Research, UK, has succeeded in genetically engineering the agricultural crop Camelina sativa to producing LC-PUFAs in its seed. The omega-3 LC-PUFA levels achived are equivalent to those in fish oils, and represent a sustainable, terrestrial source of these fatty acids. Introduction of the omega-3 LC-PUFA biosynthetic pathway into a crop demands the addition of multiple genes (for primary synthesis and to direct the flux of substrate and biosynthetic intermediates) that require coordinated tissue-specific expression in the developing seeds of the transgenic host. Reconstruction of this pathway represents the cutting edge of metabolic engineering in transgenic plants.^1,2

Illumina claims the $1000 genome prize

At a healthcare investors conference in January, the Illumina president and CEO Ian Flatley announced that his company will begin to produce a new system this year with which it will be possible to sequence an entire human genome for a price of $1000. The HiSeq X Ten sequencing system is reportedly capable of producing up to 1.8 terabases of data—16 human genomes' worth—per three-day run. Illumina says that each HiSeq X Ten will therefore be capable of sequencing 18 000 human genomes per year. Each genome will be sequenced to the gold standard of 30×, which means that each base will be read by the machine an average of 30 times. A breakdown of the projected HiSeq X Ten sequencing costs includes the costs of reagents needed to run the machine ($797 per genome), the depreciated cost of the machine itself ($137 per genome), and the costs of paying technicians to run the machines and of preparing samples for sequencing ($55–65 per genome); overhead costs (like electricity) are not included in the calculation. The HiSeq X Ten system will be available only as a combination of at least 10 HiSeq X systems, for a total cost of at least $10 million.^3-5

New focus for synthetic biology firms?

According to a news article published in Nature, synthetic biology companies are moving into new markets. Instead of new biofuels and petroleum based products, companies are starting to produce fine chemicals.⁶ As an example, the article cites Evolva, a Swiss company who has genetically modified yeast to convert sugars to vanilin. According to the article, an advantage of the bioengineering route is that these additives can be swapped for those extracted from nature and still be considered natural because they are made by living organisms (typically, yeast). Furthermore, because it is added to food after the yeast has been removed, the ingredient itself need not be labeled in any particular way. As long as it is equivalent to one of the many used in the food industry that are generally recognized as safe, it can be added to foods without any regulatory review.

EU decision of GM maize pioneer 1507

On February 11, 2014, European Union ministers failed to agree on whether to allow a new strain of genetically modified maize to be grown on EU soil. Nineteen states opposed approval of the insect-resistant maize, known as Pioneer 1507, developed jointly by DuPont and Dow Chemical, while five voted in favor and four abstained. Under the EU weighted voting system, it was not enough for a clear rejection, leaving the decision in the hands of the Commission. The European Commission will now vote on authorizing the cultivation of Pioneer 1507 on European soil, even though a majority of the member nations voted against it. Ministers from 12 EU countries have written to European Health Commissioner Tonio Borg asking him not to approve a strain of genetically modified maize to be grown for human consumption. The European Commission says that extensive scientific research has found the new GM crop is safe, and the five nations that supported it, including Britain, say EU farmers risk falling behind their peers in the Americas and Asia. Widely grown in the Americas and Asia, GM crops are generally unpopular in Europe, where public opposition is strong and environmentalists have raised concerns about the impact on biodiversity.^7,8

Novel genetic platform used to produce newly discovered antibiotic compound

Actinobacteria have a remarkable genetic capacity to produce large numbers of specialized compounds, yet only a small fraction of these have been discovered to date. In a recent publication, researchers from the University of California-San Diego introduce a genetic platform that allows the efficient production of natural product molecules from uncharacterized gene collections in a model expression host. Based on bioinformatic analysis of the draft genome sequence of the marine actinomycete Saccharomonospora sp. CNQ490, one locus was selected because of its sequence similarity with the daptomycin biosynthesis (dpt) gene cluster which encodes the clinically approved lipopeptide antibiotic daptomycin. Using transformation-associated recombination (TAR) cloning, a 67-kb nonribosomal peptide synthase biosynthetic gene cluster from Saccharomonospora sp. CNQ-490 was expressed in the model expression host Streptomyces coelicolor.⁹