Genome transplant yields living 'zombie' cells, signaling a new frontier in synthetic biology
Scientists resurrect dead Mycoplasma capricolum cells by swapping their nonfunctional DNA for a working genome from Mycoplasma mycoides, creating 'zombie cells' after inactivating recipients with mitomycin C; reported on bioRxiv, the method reduces false positives and marks a step forward in genome transplantation and synthetic biology with potential to test engineered genomes across species.