de novo

Researchers are, therefore, trying to recreate them or to design so-called de novo proteins that do not occur in nature.

"These de novo or reference-guided assemblers are pretty well-established tools that entail a whole operational pipeline with repeat detection or structural variants' identification being just some of their functionalities," Segarra said.

However, de novo domesticated crops are likely to closely resemble their wild counterparts, which would make weeding challenging.

Today, scientists use advanced technology to design new synthetic drug compounds with the right properties and characteristics, also known as "de novo drug design."

The drug works by impairing one arm of purine production, the "de novo" pathway.