Creation of genomic chimeras via megabase scale genome expansion

ACE enables megabase-scale genome expansion by integrating up to a 2-megabase donor segment in one step and at least 3 megabases across two steps into defined recipient loci.

• Why it matters: Prior genome-synthesis approaches mainly restore functions within one genome and are too costly and slow to scale large synthetic chimeras that combine diverse genomic functions.
• What they did: The method, Additive Conjugative-CAST (ACE), uses conjugation plus CRISPR-associated transposition to deliver and integrate large donor DNA into precisely defined positions, including chimera creation across species and genus barriers.
• The result: Genome expanded organisms (GEOs) were stably forged from at least three starting bacterial strains and maintained to express all acquired genomic parts within a single chimera, enabling exploration of genome architecture plasticity.

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