Simpler and Faster Is What We Like to Hear

The University of Illinois' Huimin Zhao and his colleagues report on their new DNA assembler method in Nucleic Acids Research. Needing only simple DNA preparation and a one-step yeast transformation, this in vivo process can assemble an entire biochemical pathway of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a single step by taking advantage of homologous recombination. "Assembling genes into a biochemical pathway using a DNA assembler is similar to building a toy train. Each cart is an equivalent of a gene, which is connected to each other in an ordered manner at the same time," Zhao tells Wired Science Blogs.