CRISPR “MAGIC”. Thought your baker’s yeast would never do much else energizing than making bread to rise? Well, think again. Two of the groups have remixed your yeast, with the help of quality altering device CRISPR. 

The first team, a gathering out of the NYU School of Medicine, took a yeast species with 16 chromosomes and utilized CRISPR to fit all the DNA it expected to work into only two chromosomes. The other group, this one from China, pressed everything into only one chromosome.

The two groups have published their studies in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

The Chromosome Zone

Almost every cell in the human body contains 23 sets of chromosomes, small bundles of DNA and proteins settled in the cell’s core. All eukaryotes (a group that incorporates plants, creatures, and people) have chromosomes, and they were assumed as a noteworthy part in helping our cells divide and function. 

However, only one out of every odd eukaryote species has a similar number of chromosomes. Actually, the numbers change generally- the bug vermin has only two sets, while the Atlas Blue butterfly has 224 sets- and nobody is sure about why. Concentrates like this one could enable scientists to make sense of it. 

No Biggie

By utilizing CRISPR, each of the team was able of combining the yeast’s chromosomes until the point they achieved only a couple of chromosomes. What’s more, shockingly, the yeast didn’t work all that in an unexpected way. 

“That was the biggest shocker- that you can just get away with this and yeast seem to shrug it’s shoulders, “Jeff Boeke, senior author of the NYU study, told Nature.

While two chromosome yeast survived, isolated (reproducing asexually), and grew at the same rate as normal yeast, the one chromosome yeast was a little slower at dividing. Neither one of the yeasts could effectively “breed” with different stains, either- for instance, the yeast with two chromosomes couldn’t breed with 16 chromosomes.

A New Species

This failure to breed with other yeasts could qualify the new yeast as a brand new species, stated Boeke. That could have some considerable certifiable applications- specialists could take strains of yeast capable of breaking agricultural byproducts into bio-fuels, for instance, and modify their chromosomes so they won’t breed with other yeast when released in the wild. 

Moreover, this study could enable us to comprehend what causes chromosomes irregularities in human cells, the sorts that can cause unsuccessful labors (miscarriages) or Down Syndrome. 

Lastly, it could enable us to figure out why diverse species have distinctive numbers of chromosomes. Is it just a matter of chance? Or then again is there something we’re absent?

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