Benefited from the rapid development of high-throughput sequencing, genome editing, DNA synthesis and functional genomics, synthetic genomics gains the momentum in this century. The entire genomes of several viruses and one prokaryote have been chemically synthesized and applied to drive normal cellular processes. The first eukaryotic genome synthesis project (Sc2.0) is on-going and about half of the genome has been synthesized and functionally tested. The Human Genome Project-Write (HGP-Write) was proposed in 2016, which pushes the tide of synthetic genomics to a position we have never seen before. Technologies on genome-scale design and DNA synthesis have been rapidly developed, aiming to construct a more predictable and controllable genome at reasonable cost. The generation of synthetic organisms not only has promising applications for industry, environment, healthy and basic researches, but also raises ethic and policy concerns. This review presents the development of synthetic genomics, with emphasis on technologies for whole genome design, synthesis and assembly. We also discussed ethics, prospective and challenge in synthetic genomics. As one of the major branches in synthetic biology, synthetic genomics is still at its infant stage. A lot of excitement will come in the next few years.
随着基因组相关技术 (测序、编辑、合成等) 和知识 (功能基因组学) 的日益成熟，合成基因组学在本世纪迎得了发展的契机。病毒、原核生物的全基因组相继被化学合成并支持生命的存活，第1 个真核生物合成基因组计划已经完成过半，人类基因组编写计划提上日程。在基因组合成的实践过程中，研究者们不断探索对基因组进行重编和设计所应遵循的规则，提高从头合成、组装和替换基因组的技术手段。合成基因组在工业、环境、健康和基础研究领域有着广阔的应用前景，同时也带来了相应的伦理问题。结合在Sc2.0 计划中的基因组合成研究和近期合成基因组学所取得的重大进展，本文综述了基因组设计和合成相关的科学、技术和伦理内容，并探讨了未来发展所面对的挑战。作为合成生物学最重要的领域之一，合成基因组学方兴未艾。.
Keywords: DNA assembly and genome construction; DNA synthesis; genome redesign; synthetic genomics.