Synthetic overlapping genes stabilize genetic systems
Genetically engineered microbes promise to improve human health and help solve global climate crises. However, the widespread adoption of these microbes is often hindered by genetic instability caused by mutations and by the unpredictable spread of synthetic genes in the environment. We present a simple but effective method for creating synthetic overlapping genes to stabilize genes against mutations and prevent their spread in the environment. This method is broadly useful for constructing stable genetically engineered microbes and studying how they evolve in the environment.
Authors
- Dante P. Ricci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4448-6076)
- Sean P. Leonard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5634-3254)
- Tiffany M. Halvorsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9845-7313)
- Mimi C. Yung (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0534-0728)
- Dan Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6000-6805)
- Bentley Lim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7751-7927)
- Yongqin Jiao
- Nathan A McCall
Institutions
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- mBio
- Published
- 2026-02-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02725-25
- Primary Topic
- CRISPR and Genetic Engineering
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Office of Science
- Biological and Environmental Research
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory