I’m confused between these two Articles

1

Macquarie University scientists to help create artificial life

Sydney scientists will make synthetic genes for a common variety of yeast, a first step towards creating an artificial organism.

Researchers at Macquarie University will design and build from scratch a chromosome – a tiny bundle of genetic material – as part of an international project to construct a man-made yeast by 2017.

As yeast is a widely used and vital part of several industries, including food, alcohol, vaccine and biofuel production, the ability to make synthetic yeasts may produce strains assembled with specific traits.

But Sakkie Pretorius from Macquarie University says synthetic biology promises more than just made-to-order yeast in the future.

more…

2

First synthetic yeast chromosome revealed

It took geneticist Craig Venter 15 years and US$40 million to synthesize the genome of a bacterial parasite. Today, an academic team made up mostly of undergraduate students reports the next leap in synthetic life: the redesign and production of a fully functional chromosome from the baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

more…

Are they both part of a wider study?

“His group found their man-made chromosome could still function when parts were deleted or reordered, which suggested synthetic chromosomes could be assembled to display desired traits.”

“Boeke and his team thought that by stripping the genome of certain features to test their importance, they could justify the enormous cost and effort of synthesizing whole yeast chromosomes.”

That’s the part I wanted to see. I’ve thought for a long time that most of so-called “junk DNA” really is junk, and this is the first step in testing that hypothesis. More information wanted.

“Since Professor Boeke’s success, other groups around the world had joined the Yeast 2.0 project to assemble synthetic versions of the yeast’s 15 other chromosomes. Australia would design and build chromosome 14 of a common lab strain of the yeast.”

Nice.