Do-It-Yourself DNA: Scientists assemble first synthetic genome

Starting from custom-made segments of DNA, scientists have succeeded in putting together an entire microbial genome in the lab. The researchers plan to transplant this genome into a microbe in the hope that the cell will “boot up” and use the synthetic DNA.

The completed genome is a single DNA molecule with about 583,000 letters of genetic code—18 times the size of the previous record for laboratory—made DNA.