A cool new paper from Jason Chin’s lab: establishing a self-replicating linear DNA in E. coli bacteria. The replication is driven by a specialized DNA polymerase that doesn’t act on the host genome, which means the mutation rate can be independently controlled.

science.org/doi/10.1126…

This is super promising for directed evolution – basically it looks like a simpler and easier form of PACE (which uses bacteriophages). I’m excited to see where this will go in the next few years.