This month in Cell, a paper entitled “Design, construction, and functional characterization of a tRNA neochromosome in yeast“ was published (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.10.015), describing the synthesis and characterization of a completely new chromosome in yeast cells. This achievement is unique because, for the first time, a chromosome designed and synthesized entirely from scratch, known as a neochromosome, was introduced into a Eukaryotic organism.
The international group of authors investigating the functioning of the neochromosome included the head of the Laboratory of Transcription Mechanisms at the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Dr. Tomasz Turowski. Dr. Turowski’s team collaborates scientifically with the group of Dr. Daniel Schindler at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Biology in Marburg, Germany, through joint scientific projects and mutual visits between Poland and Germany.
Design, construction, and functional characterization of a tRNA neochromosome in yeast. Cell. 2023 Nov 22;186(24):5237-5253.e22. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.10.015.