Catching up in the genome race

Breakthrough by Chinese scientists in creating synthetic yeast chromosomes shows growing confidence on the world stage. Xinhua's Yuan Quan, Zhang Jianxin and Jia Zhao report.

When Yuan Yingjin turned 54 on March 10, he received two unexpected surprises: some yeast chromosomes, and acclaim in the Chinese media.

That day, the findings of a study to assemble four synthetic yeast chromosomes, conducted by his research team at Tianjin University as well as scientists at Tsinghua University and BGI-Shenzhen, was published in Science, the international journal.