Harvard Biologists Just Demonstrated the Most Extensive Reengineering of a Genome Yet

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have "radically rewritten" the genome of bacteria E. coli. The team has replaced 7 of its 64 codons (3-letter sequences which correspond usually to a single animo acid.) The lab, led by George Church, had already proven it is possible to recode single amino acids, but this project is the first to introduce so many functional changes to a genome. Why is this such a big step? Church says it demonstrates the kind of...