= De novo DNA synthesis
{wiki=De_novo_synthesis}
As of 2018, <Ciro Santilli> believes that this could be <the next big thing> in <biology> technology.
"De novo" means "starting from scratch", that is: you type the desired sequence into a computer, and the synthesize it.
The "de novo" part is important, because it distinguishes this from the already well solved problem of duplicating DNA from an existing DNA template, which is what all our cells do daily, and which can already be done very efficiently <in vitro> with <polymerase chain reaction>.
Many <startup> companies are attempting to create more efficient de novo synthesis methods:
* https://twistbioscience.com/
* https://www.evonetix.com/technology/
* http://dnascript.co/
* https://www.ansabio.com/
* https://www.nuclera.com/
Notably, the dream of most of those companies is to have a machine that sits on a lab bench, which synthesises whatever you want.
TODO current de novo synthesis costs/time to delivery after ordering a custom sequence.
The initial main applications are likely going to be:
* <polymerase chain reaction> primers (determine which region will be amplified
* creating a custom sequence to be inserted in a <plasmid>, i.e. <artificial gene synthesis>
but the real pipe dream is building and bootstraping entire <artificial chromosomes>
News coverage:
* 2023-03 https://twitter.com/sethbannon/status/1633848116154880001
\Q[<AnsaBio> created the world's longest DNA oligo produced using de novo synthesis! 1,005 bases! 99.9% stepwise yield]
* 2020-10-05 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-020-0695-9 "Enzymatic DNA synthesis enters new phase"
\Video[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNK0SZmEsks]
{title=Nuclera eDNA enzymatic <de novo DNA synthesis> explanatory animation (2021)}
{description=
The video shows nicely how Nuclera's enzymatic DNA synthesis works:
* they provide blocked <nucleotides> of a single type
* add them with the enzyme. They use a werid <DNA polymerase> called <terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase> that adds a base at a time to a single stranded DNA strand rather than copying from a template
* wash everything
* do deblocking reaction
* and then repeat until done
}
{source=https://vimeo.com/535484548}