How can computer engineering predict the future of gene synthesis?

Gene synthesis and computer programming seem to have little in common. Andrew Steckl, an Ohio Eminent Scholar from the University of Cincinnati, is optimistic that wide scale gene manufacture is doable.

Steckl and his student, Joseph Riolo, used the history of microchip development and large scale computer software platforms as a model to understand synthetic biology. Steckl said the project was inspired by comments by another student.

No analogy is perfect. Riolo said that there are a lot of ways the genome and software code are comparable.

Their analysis was published.

Synthetic biology has the potential to be the next technological human advancement, following microelectronics and the internet.

Scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute created the first synthetic organisms in 2010 when they used an artificial genome. It took 15 years to develop an artificial genome at a cost of more than 40 million dollars.

Steckl said that by using computer chip development as a guide, we can infer the speed and costs of producing synthetic life might follow a similar trajectory as the performance and cost of electronics over time.

The comparison and similarities between biological and digital coding languages are highlighted in the article. The authors emphasize that the combinations of adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine that make up a genome only tells part of the complex story of genes.

The function of bio-organisms can be described as bottom-up, distributed, self-replicating and nondeterministic, whereas computer system design and function is top-down, concentrated, not self-replicating and deterministic.

Steckl, a distinguished research professor who holds joint appointments in electrical engineering, biomedical engineering and materials engineering in UC's College of Engineering, said that there are all kinds of caveats, but that a zero-order comparison is needed to start this road.

Steckl asked if the complexity of programming a fighter plane or Mars rover was the same as the complexity of creating a genome of a bacterium.

Either biological organisms are way more complicated and represent the most complicated programming that has ever been done, so there's no way you can duplicate it.

Moore's Law predicts the advancement of computer chips. Gordon Moore was a computer scientist and co- founder of Intel.

55 years after Moore drafted his theory, we are still seeing it in three-dimensional microchips, even if the advances provide smaller benefits for performance and power reduction than previous leaps forward.

The price of editing genes and synthesizing genomes has halved every two years since 2010, according to a study.

The authors of the study said that an artificial human genome could cost as much as 1 million dollars and simpler applications could be made for as little as $4,000.

The study concluded that the combination of surmountable complexity and moderate cost justified the academic enthusiasm for synthetic biology.

Steckl said bio-engineering could become an important component of almost every industry and science in the same way computer science evolved from a niche discipline to a critical component of most every science.

I see a correlation between how computing has evolved. Steckl said that he saw something similar in the world of biology and bio-engineering. There is biology everywhere. It will be interesting to see how these things evolve.

Both Steckl and Riolo agree that the ability to create artificial life does not mean that you have to.

Steckl said it was not something to be taken lightly. One should consider the implications of their beliefs.

More information: Joseph Riolo et al, Comparative analysis of genome code complexity and manufacturability with engineering benchmarks, Scientific Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-06723-5 Journal information: Scientific Reports Citation: How can computer engineering predict the future of gene synthesis? (2022, March 3) retrieved 3 March 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-03-future-gene-synthesis.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.