Abstract: Synthetic biology is one of the most potential fields of modern biology, which integrates many disciplines such as life science, engineering and information science. Based on the concept of engineering design, it constructs standardized components and modules, integrates the principles of engineering science, and adopts a bottom-up strategy to synthesize and improve the existing systems or systems, so as to reveal the law of life and build a new generation of bioengineering system. It creates a new research mode of "building knowledge" for life science. After the discovery of DNA double helix and the human genome sequencing project, synthetic biology is starting a new biotechnology revolution. As a new "convergence" discipline, with the progress of DNA synthesis technology and the deepening of the concept of synthetic biology, synthetic biology has made great progress in many research directions. This paper mainly introduces the concept of synthetic biology, summarizes the basic research content of synthetic biology and the research progress in natural products, medicine, energy and industry, and looks forward to the development prospect of synthetic biology.

Key words: synthetic biology, gene editing, metabolic engineering, artificial cells