A team at the University of Tokyo has developed a groundbreaking system to control and accelerate the evolution of bacterial genome structure.
This innovation targets small "jumping genes," or DNA sequences known as insertion sequences (ISs), enabling researchers to observe large-scale changes in genome structure directly.
The inspiration came from insect-associated bacteria with tiny genomes, prompting the team to simulate DNA reshuffling rapidly.
In experiments, the test organisms accumulated changes in their DNA at a rate similar to what usually happens over decades in nature.
This acceleration allows scientists to study the fitness effects of IS insertions, genome size changes, and rearrangements in laboratory settings.
Yuki Kanai, from the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Science, noted that this study also shed light on the evolution of transposons themselves.
Kanai envisions applying this system to broader questions, such as understanding the conditions under which cooperation evolves between bacteria or between bacteria and their hosts.
Ultimately, this research could enable the engineering of highly sophisticated organic materials that are difficult to design directly, requiring evolutionary fine-tuning to achieve desired functions.