Camena Bioscience and Constructive Bio have entered into a collaborative research project with the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Germany, to address the longstanding challenges associated with de novo synthesis of complete chloroplast genomes. The initiative, funded by the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency, aims to integrate high-fidelity enzymatic DNA synthesis with scalable genome assembly methodologies to generate fully synthetic chloroplast genomes for functional and applied studies.
Chloroplasts are plastid organelles responsible for photosynthesis and other biosynthetic pathways in plants and algae. Their genomes, typically 120–170 kb in length, exhibit high adenine–thymine content and contain extensive repetitive elements. These sequence characteristics contribute to the difficulty of accurate sequencing, synthesis, and assembly. Current genome engineering methods have proven inadequate for reliably generating complete synthetic chloroplast genomes, limiting experimental studies and applied biotechnology development.
Synthetic chloroplast genomes will enable the investigation of plastid genome structure, regulation, and evolution, and facilitate metabolic engineering approaches for crop improvement, biofuel production, and plant-based biomanufacturing of pharmaceuticals. By providing precise, large-scale synthetic constructs, the collaboration anticipates advancing both fundamental plant biology research and applied synthetic biology.