In the present study, a group of Rikkyo University researchers led by Assistant Professor Takahito Mukai and Professor Masayuki Su'etsugu has succeeded in splitting the E.coli genome into tripartite-genome of 1 million base pairs per genome (split-genome) using the smallestE. coligenome strain established so far. In addition, they successfully extracted the split-genome from bacteria and installed it in otherE. coli.

It is a major breakthrough thatE. colicould stably proliferate even after the bacterial genome was split into tripartite-genome. Going forward, it is imperative to clarify how the replication and distribution of the tripartite-genome are controlled. Also, this research group has been developing the technology for synthesizing gigantic DNA without using cells (cell-free) and reported a cell-free technique for amplifying 1 million base pairs of circular DNA. In the future, the installation of cell-free synthesized split genomes inE. coliis expected to lead to the creation of artificialE. coliwith designed valuable functions, such as material production.

This achievement is expected to lead to the clarification of the mechanism of genome replication/segregation and also to the application of tools in synthetic biology to convert the genome, the blueprint of life, so that we can create functionally designed life. The results in the present study have been published in the online version as a breakthrough paper inNucleic Acids Researchon April 28, 2021.