We are using Bacillus subtilus as a backbone to incorporate the entire
genome of Streptococcus thermophilus. Once incorporated, we will use the
cre/lox recombination system to remove the Bacillus subtilus genome so
only the Streptococcus thermophilus genome remains. This will demonstrate
the use of Bacillus subtilus as a useful chassis to boot up an artificial
genome.
As you may have guessed from the sly shift in tense from present to future, we
did not actually succeed in transferring the entire genome of Streptococcus thermophilus
into Bacillus subtilus -- yet. We have developed, and will describe, a method which
we believe will enable us to do so, and the results we have obtained for the early
steps in that method have been encouraging. We still believe it may be possible to
accomplish our original goal, and will continue to pursue it in the weeks and months
to come.
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And so it begins...
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