Enhancing viral pathogen functions – how it's done within synthetic biology technologies abroad

Highlights

- Modern synthetic biology technologies enable the creation of gain-of-function (GOF) viruses capable of causing infectious processes in humans, animals, and plants.

- GOF virus-induced infections may present with atypical symptoms and internal organ damage, complicating timely diagnosis and reducing treatment efficacy.

- There are no conventional mechanisms to prevent the creation and spread of synthetic pathogens.

- The digitization of synthetic biology allows pathogens to be transmitted as digital data and reassembled in vitro.

Relevance. Synthetic biology technologies, including genome editing and virus synthesis, are now accessible even to small laboratories and are actively used to modify pathogens affecting humans, animals, and plants.

Purpose of the study is to demonstrate how GOF viruses can be created abroad using synthetic biology technologies and assess their potential pathogenic effects.

Study base sources. English-language publications from the PubMed database.

Method. Analytical approach, following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines.

Results. Currently, synthetic virus construction primarily employs two methods: Gibson assembly, Transformationassociated recombination (TAR), including TAR cloning in Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast.Viral genomes are assembled from oligonucleotide fragments with targeted modifications, enabling the production of synthetic viruses with designed properties, including GOF traits. The study also identified molecular markers distinguishing synthetic viruses from natural strains.

Conclusion. Advances in synthetic biology have created a new reality – the potential for biological warfare where the fact of an attack, its perpetrators, and the means used may remain undetectable. This situation establishes a fundamentally new paradigm of biological threats to medicine, veterinary science, and agriculture, necessitating the development of international risk management mechanisms.

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