A draft foresight paper on synthetic biology has been released by the Department of Biotechnology. The paper has stressed the need for a national policy on synthetic biology that can consolidate India’s stand on the issue.
What is Synthetic biology?
- Synthetic biology refers to the science of using genetic sequencing, editing, and modification to create unnatural organisms or organic molecules that can function in living systems.
- Synthetic biology enables scientists to design and synthesise new sequences of DNA from scratch.
Examples of Synthetic biology
- Microorganisms harnessed for bioremediation to clean pollutants from our water, soil and air.
- Rice modified to produce beta-carotene, a nutrient usually associated with carrots, that prevents vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency causes blindness in 250,000 – 500,000 children every year and greatly increases a child’s risk of death from infectious diseases.
- Yeast engineered to produce rose oil as an eco-friendly and sustainable substitute for real roses that perfumers use to make luxury scents.
Differences between Synthetic biology and Genome editing
- Synthetic biology: Scientists typically stitch together long stretches of DNA and insert them into an organism’s genome. These synthesized pieces of DNA could be genes that are found in other organisms or they could be entirely novel.
- Genome editing: scientists typically use tools to make smaller changes to the organism’s own DNA. Genome editing tools can also be used to delete or add small stretches of DNA in the genome.
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