"Revolutionizing Metabolic Engineering with a CRISPR-Cas9 DNA Assembly Kit"

Researchers have developed a comprehensive DNA assembly toolkit to unlock the potential of CRISPR-Cas9 for metabolic engineering. The toolkit consists of seven modules that enable quick and easy assembly of integrative constructs and Cas9-helper plasmids. It includes methods for marker-free integration, donor DNA re-direction, and cloning of guide RNAs. The researchers demonstrated the functionality of the toolkit by engineering yeast to produce homogentisic acid, a precursor for pyomelanin, a constituent of natural sunscreens and cosmetics. The toolkit has broad applications in strain engineering and is expected to facilitate advancements in metabolic engineering and other fields of biological engineering.