Synthetic yeast project a world first

Macquarie University will lead the Australian arm of the Yeast 2.0 project that aims to create the first synthetic complex organism.

The international team involved in the Yeast 2.0 project plans to synthesise the 16 chromosomes of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to generate the first fully synthetic yeast by 2017. Macquarie University, in partnership with the Australian Wine Research Institute, is responsible for synthesising Chromosome XIV.

The global research leader of the project, Professor Jef Boeke of New York University, has already synthesised chromosome III of a lab strain of S. cerevisiae - the first synthetic chromosome of a living organism more complex than simple bacteria.

“A wholly synthetic yeast organism will be an amazing accomplishment, but it is just the beginning,” said Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research at Macquarie University, Professor Sakkie Pretorius. “Once we can synthesise an organism like yeast we can then apply the same techniques to increasingly more complex organisms.”

The project is supported by $1 million in funding from the NSW Government - the NSW Department of Primary Industries and the NSW Office for Science & Research will each contribute $500,000 in funding.

NSW Department of Primary Industry (DPI) Chief Scientific Officer Dr Philip Wright said the project will result in long-term benefits for primary producers.

“This is groundbreaking research. DPI is delighted to be involved in this project, which will have significant benefits to primary producers in the future,” Dr Wright says.