Abstract
Yeast research is entering into a new period of scholarship, with new
scientific tools, new questions to ask, and new issues to consider. The
politics of emerging and critical technology can no longer be separated
from the pursuit of basic science in fields, such as synthetic biology
and engineering biology. Given the intensifying race for technological
leadership, yeast research is likely to attract significant investment
from government, and that it offers huge opportunities to the curious
minded from a basic research standpoint. This article provides an
overview of new directions in yeast research, and places these trends in
their geopolitical context. At the highest level, yeast research is
situated within the ongoing convergence of the life sciences with the
information sciences. This convergent effect is most strongly pronounced
in areas of AI-enabled tools for the life sciences, and the creation of
synthetic genomes, minimal genomes, pan-genomes, neochromosomes and
metagenomes using computer assisted design tools and methodologies.
Synthetic yeast futures encompass basic and applied science questions
that will be of intense interest to government and non-government
funding sources. It is essential for the yeast research community to map
and understand the context of their research in order to ensure their
collaborations turn global challenges into research opportunities.
Keywords: Minimal genome; supernumerary neochromosome; metagenome,
pan-genome; synthetic genome; synthetic communities; Saccharomyces
cerevisiae , Yeast 2.0
1 FROM SPIKE
PROTEINS TO SPIKING PRICES AND A PERMACRISIS
The first three years of this decade put the world to the test. From a
devastating global pandemic, collapsing supply chains, extreme weather
patterns, and intensifying geopolitical tensions to outright war,
soaring energy and food prices, escalating debt, inflation and a looming
global recession (Figure 1), today’s world is faced with a
‘permacrisis’―an extended period of significant instability and
insecurity (Vanhercke et al., 2022). Assumptions of a rules-based world
order that held for decades―that agreed red lines of nuclear weapons
won’t be crossed, that international borders should be inviolable, that
geopolitical rivalries won’t weaponise critical supply chains or choke
free trade, that inflation will stay low, and that the lights will stay
on―have all been shaken to the core (www.economist.com/the-world-ahead;
Gyngell, 2017). The ‘peace dividend’ nations enjoyed since the end of
the cold war―releasing huge amounts of funds from defence to spend on
other societal needs―is ending. Within the context of current rising
geopolitical competition, the world is once again equipping itself for
future geopolitical challenges between rivals (Khan et al., 2022).
The world has changed and
continues to change, and so with this change does the technology that
continues to shape our world into the future. The development of
critical technologies, such as synthetic biology and the way we conduct
frontier-shifting and future-shaping synthetic yeast research, will too
be influenced by geopolitics. Examples include research into biofuels
(Georgianna and Mayfield, 2012), which will be influenced by the
reliability of global supply chains, and the necessity for unfettered
access to advanced technologies, which are deemed critical to nations’
economic prosperity, security and sovereignty.
One branch of science that has sparked interest, hope, and disputation
among researchers, governments, policymakers, regulators and
commentators is synthetic biology (Kitney, 2021). Looking beyond the
bounds of this developing field into its wider geopolitical context, the
intersection of science, technology and policy with changing great power
dynamics has amplified existing fragilities in the international system.
This fragility is fracturing globalization along political lines,
producing more tension, more competition and increased fragmentation. It
is not the first time that science has encountered this trend in
international relations (Lieber, 2019), and for yeast research, with its
long and storied history, it is not the first time that the community of
scholars and practitioners has needed to respond to changed political
winds. The question many are asking in the scientific community is: how
will international collaboration continue given the current
international context? This a complex question given that investment in
research and development (R&D) is increasing at a rapid rate, driven by
both new philanthropic investors and their funding priorities, but also
by government competition and their political priorities. Technological
competition is all but baked into the global economy for the next decade
(Lewis, 2018). It is likely that these increased R&D investments would
deliver unintended beneficial technological developments for synthetic
biology and yeast researchers.
How can synthetic yeast research and yeast researchers ride this wave?
Yeast remains one of the most versatile and resilient hosts for
traditional and novel industrial use cases. Just as yeast must be part
of the solution to, for example, viticulture and winemaking in the face
of climate change, so must yeast be part of the solution to scaling
biomanufacturing globally (Naseri, 2023). As the bioethanol, baking,
brewing, distilling and winemaking industries, along with the
agricultural economies of ancient history relied on yeast (Pretorius et
al., 2012), so too will the emerging bioeconomy find its backbone in
this simple, single-celled fungus. While the global environment appears
to be increasingly competitive, increasingly fractious, and far more
dynamic―this is a source of optimism for yeast research and only serves
to highlight the ongoing contributions the yeast community can
meaningfully make to human progress. However, to take full advantage of
the global macro changes, the yeast research community needs to fully
capitalize on the tools and methodologies of synthetic biology and other
related fields (EBRC, 2019). This must begin with the yeast community
having a good answer for why anyone, government, corporate or
philanthropist, should invest in synthetic biology-based yeast research
at all.