Multiplex Automated Genome Engineering (MAGE), the Church lab’s new cell programming method that promises to give biotechnology – in particular synthetic biology – a powerful boost, made its public debut in the July issue of Nature. MAGE was developed by SynBERC graduate student Harris Wang and postdoctoral researcher Farren Isaacs, who used the platform to rapidly refine the design of a bacterium by editing multiple genes in parallel instead of targeting one gene at a time. They transformed E. coli cells into efficient bio-factories and optimized the production of a test compound (in this case lycopene) in three days—a feat that would take most biotech companies months or years.

“We initiated the project to close the gap between DNA sequencing technology and cell programming technology,” explains graduate student Harris Wang, one of the first authors of the paper. Traditional in vitro and directed evolution methods have created useful genetic variants with laborious, serial manipulation of single genes, and are not used for parallel and continuous directed evolution of gene networks or genomes. The MAGE platform allows scientists to break free of linear genetic engineering techniques and move beyond the serial manipulation of single genes. “The goal was to use information gleaned from genetics and genomics to rapidly engineer new functions and improve existing functions in cells,” adds postdoctoral researcher Farren Isaacs, the other first author. “We wanted to develop a new tool and demonstrate how to apply it; we were determined to hand labs a hammer and a nail.”

Harris H. Wang, Farren J. Isaacs, Peter A. Carr, Zachary Z. Sun, George Xu, Craig R. Forest & George M. Church (2009) Programming cells by multiplex genome engineering and accelerated evolution. Nature doi: 10.1038/nature08187