DNA synthesis, assembly and applications in synthetic biology

The past couple of years saw exciting new developments in microchip-based gene synthesis technologies. Such technologies hold the potential for significantly increasing the throughput and decreasing the cost of gene synthesis. Together with more efficient enzymatic error correction and genome assembly methods, these new technologies are pushing the field of synthetic biology to a higher level.

► Reviewed recent developments in DNA synthesis, gene and genome assembly technologies. ► Focused on gene synthesis technologies using microarray generated oligonucleotide pools. ► Reviewed error correction methods in gene synthesis. ► Reviewed recent applications of gene synthesis in synthetic biology.