A new system called BASIC could give synthetic biology a boost by creating artificial DNA that is faster, more accurate and more flexible than existing methods. 

To engineer new organisms, scientists build artificial genes from individual molecules and then put these together to create larger genetic constructs which, when inserted into a cell, will create the required product. Various attempts have been made to standardisz the design and assembly process but, until now, none have been completely successful. 

BASIC, created by researchers from Imperial's Centre for Synthetic Biology&Innovation, combines features of the most popular methods while overcoming their limitations so it should enable greater advances in research and could offer industry a way to automate the design and manufacture of synthetic DNA. 

Dr. Geoff Baldwin, from Imperial's Department of Life Sciences, explains, "BASIC uses standardized parts which, like Lego, have the same joining device, so parts will fit together in any order. Unlike some systems that can only join two parts at a time, forcing the gene to be built in several, time consuming steps, BASIC enables multiple parts to be joined together at once. It is also 99 percent accurate, compared to bespoke designs which usually have an accuracy of around 70 percent." 

BASIC can draw on a large database of standardized parts, which can be produced in bulk and stored for use as required, rather than creating new parts each time. Standardization and accuracy of the process means that it could be used on an industrial scale.

BASIC is set to be used in a high throughput automated process in SynbiCITE, the innovation and knowledge centre (IKC) based at Imperial which is promoting the adoption of synthetic biology by industry. Two industrial partners - Dr Reddys and Isogenica - are also already making use of BASIC in their research laboratories.