카이스트, 화학 시약 없이 온도만으로 DNA 합성 기술 개발

Translation

A KAIST research team has developed a new technology that makes DNA using only temperature, without any chemical reagents. The research was carried out jointly by Professor Choi Young-jae's team at KAIST's Graduate School of Engineering Biology, Professor Choi Han-sol's team at Ewha Womans University, and the company ATG Life Tech. Until now, making DNA required repeatedly adding and washing out chemical reagents every time one of the four bases—A, T, G, and C—was attached one by one. The research team newly developed something called "hairpin DNA," which reacts only at a specific temperature. Thanks to this hairpin DNA, it became possible to synthesize DNA in a desired sequence just by controlling the temperature. This is the world's first time DNA has been synthesized using only temperature control, without chemical reagents. With this technology, DNA can be made using just a single test tube, without the need for expensive automatic synthesis equipment costing hundreds of millions of won. The research team expects this technology to be widely used in areas such as disease diagnosis and new drug development in the future.