[DIYbio] Re: Linearization / Circularization of Chromosomes

Hi everyone,

I read this, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1796773/

The authors (there are many, some people seem to co-autorize all people they know :P ) have combined linear phage replication elements and a usual E. Coli chromosome and got it to be in a linear state.

There also was a newer experiment, http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/sb400079u where they splited the circular genome in two linear ones. Replicates and grows without problems.


I guess that this is the opposite direction to longevity?
What about the opposite direction? Circularization of human chromosomes? So no telomerase is needed, no shortening of (non.-existent) telomeres?

In the future, I'm gonna try this in yeast, but it has 16 chromosomes :P Isn't there some eukaryote with, say, 2 chromosomes? :D

I guess some IPTG-induced Cre recombinase could cut out the selection marker 16 times...

Just waiting for gene synthesis to get cheaper.