New research paves the way for rapid and scalable genome engineering in yeast

A research team led by Aashiq H. Kachroo, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Concordia University, has developed a ground-breaking method for advanced genetic engineering.

Rapid, Scalable, and Combinatorial Genome Engineering by Markerless Enrichment and Recombination of Genetically Engineered Loci (MERGE) in Yeast, published in Cell Reports Methods, introduces a new technology that enables highly efficient and scalable genome engineering in yeast. Genetic engineering is crucial in various scientific disciplines, including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and biotechnology.

A highly efficient gene drive

By a clever merger of CRISPR-Cas9 and yeast genetics, the team developed a powerful genome engineering platform. Yeast reproduces by two cells mixing both DNAs, Cas9 snips at the unedited locations, triggering yeast's efficient recombination to repair the DNA break with an edited DNA sequence resistant to further cutting by Cas9. This serves as a gene drive that efficiently eliminates specific DNA sequences from the yeast's genome.

Gene drive is a technique that alters the inheritance of specific traits within a population. “It acts like a 'fast lane' that rapidly spreads through the population, almost like an infectious trait,” Kachroo explains. The breakthrough technology consolidates several individual DNA edits into the yeast genome with unprecedented speed and scalability, providing a platform for large-scale genetic manipulation at Concordia’s Genome Foundry.

The implications of this breakthrough are vast. “By streamlining the genome engineering process in yeast, scientists can easily study genetic interactions, build complex biological pathways, and introduce human genetic processes into yeast, as demonstrated by engineering yeast cells to produce yellow carotenoid pigment and the components of the human proteasome,” says Greco.

Learn more about Concordia's Genome Foundry.