Compacting a synthetic yeast chromosome arm

Redundancy is a common feature of genomes presumably to ensure robust growth under different and changing conditions. Genome compaction, i.e. removing sequences nonessential for given condition(s), provides a novel way to derive the core principles of life. About half of the JCVI-syn1.0 genomic sequences were removed by J. Craig Venter and his colleagues to form the first synthetic minimal mycoplasma genome in 2016. As the synthetic yeast genome project is nearing its completion, we started to explore the application of the implemented SCRaMbLE system in genome compaction, with an ultimate goal to generate minimized yeast genome(s).