Scientists from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Biological Sciences have created a synthetic human chromosome, it was revealed last week.

In research published in the journal Developmental Cell, the team, working with other researchers in the US and Japan, used the synthetic chromosome to study properties of dividing cells.

Chromosomes are the large continuous pieces of DNA that house the genetic material in the nucleus of the cell. During cell division chromosomes must be split exactly equally between two new cells – a process facilitated by attachment to a centromere, a region in the middle of the chromosome from which it can be pulled apart.

The Edinburgh researchers have succeeded in creating a synthetic centromere whose components can be turned on and off, allowing them to study its effects in isolation.

Most cases of Down’s syndrome are caused when chromosome 21 fails to split evenly, and the sufferer ends up with all or part of an extra copy of the chromosome. Other such occurrences can lead to miscarriage, birth defects and to cancer in children and adults. It is hoped that the synthetic chromosome will give researchers greater insight into the mechanisms of cell division and why it can sometimes go wrong.

The research, conduced alongside the National Institutes of Health in the US and Nagoya University in Japan, was funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Professor William Earnshaw, from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, part of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Biological Sciences, said: “This is a breakthrough – for the first time we can grab hold of this important part of a chromosome in living cells and study how it works in great detail. This research has potential importance in many areas, most notably in cancer research.”