Team decodes organism¡¯s genome

A domestic research team has decoded the entire order of the genome base of alcohol ferment fungus. Microgen, a bioengineering venture firm, announced Thursday that it successfully decoded the genome base of Zymomonas mobilis, the alcohol ferment fungus.

The Seoul National University team led by Professor Kang Hyun-Sam was financed by the Ministry of Science and Technology. Microgen took over the result of the study by Kang`s team and has completed since February the analysis of the bases of 98.9 percent of the 2.3 million-pair Zymomonas mobilis genes through the random shotgun formula adopted by Celera of the United States.

Microgen confirmed that this microorganism has 2,068 genes, a company official said. Of them, the function of 1,326 was known but that of 742 has yet to be disclosed. The research team will devote its time to discovering the functions of these genes through additional research and then apply for a patent.

¡°If we succeed to create gene-transformed microorganism that can eat cheap feed like starch or cellulose instead of expensive glucose by analyzing the genes of Zymomonas mobilis,`` Kang said.

The team`s analysis also is expected to be applied to the development of medicines such as immunity drugs.

hisdm@donga.com