US published application 20110053273 to Synthetic Genomics

Appl. 20110053273, first claim:

A method for creating a synthetic cell,

said method comprising:assembling a synthetic or semi-synthetic donor genome as one or more fragments;(ii) introducing the donor genome and a host vector into a heterologous host cell, wherein the donor genome and the host vector are optionally joined prior to introduction into the host cell;(iii) recovering the donor genome from the host cell; and(iv) introducing the recovered donor genome into a recipient cell;thereby generating a synthetic cell comprising the donor genome, wherein the donor genome is an essentially intact cellular, viral, or organelle genome that is at least a minimal genome, and is greater than about 300 kb in length.