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~ Whoa oh oh it's MAGE-ic ~
Scientists have developed a new technique which may rapidly decrease the time it takes to engineer bacteria that create desirable substances. The key is a system which allows a massive number of bacteria to be created with slight, but significant, genetic differences in each one. This "shotgun" approach seems to be a bit like the lottery... if you play enough numbers, what you want is bound to show up eventually.
This is an adaptation of a technique that's been used in genetics since well before I was screwing with cells. We used to insert genes into cells along with some sort of a marker gene. Select for said marker and then see what you've got. We'd also expose cultures to a specific pathogen in a concentration large enough to kill 99.99% or more of the cells. Let those that lived expand out and do it again, but up the ante a bit. After awhile you end up pathogen-resistant cells (a form of commonly-used marker genes).
Neat application of a technique that's been used for quite some time. What's really interesting is that they're able to introduce that many mutations that quickly. Makes the screwing around that we did with the herpes virus, cervical cancer, and firefly genes look lame in comparison.
Posted by: Ron ap Rhys on July 27, 2009 01:19 PM