Manufactured gametes and the principle of genetic caution

Biological inheritance has always been governed by the randomness of homologous recombination during gametogenesis. Even current reproductive technologies, like preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), remain tethered to this biological lottery, merely allowing parents to select among a limited number of randomly generated embryos. Advances in synthetic biology, such as de novo synthesis of human DNA (synDNA), are poised to bypass meiosis entirely [ 1 ]. The prospect of manufacturing gametes directly from synthesized DNA could allow prospective parents to digitally select and assemble naturally occurring genetic variants from their own genomes before a gamete even exists [ 2 ].