By Clive Cookson, Science Editor

Published: May 20 2010 18:23 | Last updated: May 20 2010 18:23

Scientists have turned inanimate chemicals into a living organism in an experiment that raises profound questions about the essence of life.

Craig Venter, the US genomics pioneer, announced on Thursday that scientists at his laboratories in Maryland and California had succeeded in their 15-year project to make the world’s first “synthetic cells” – bacteria called Mycoplasma mycoides.

“We have passed through a critical psychological barrier,” Dr Venter told the FT. “It has changed my own thinking, both scientifically and philosophically, about life and how it works.”

The bacteria’s genes were all constructed in the laboratory “from four bottles of chemicals on a chemical synthesizer, starting with information on a computer,” he said.

The research – published online by the journal Science – was hailed as a landmark by many independent scientists and philosophers.

“Venter is creaking open the most profound door in humanity’s history, potentially peeking into its destiny,” said Julian Savulescu, ethics professor at Oxford University. “This is a step towards ... creation of living beings with capacities and natures that could never have naturally evolved.”

The synthetic bacteria have 14 “watermark sequences” attached to their genome – inert stretches of DNA added to distinguish them from their natural counterparts. They behaved and divided in lab dishes like natural bacteria.

M mycoides was chosen as a simple microbe with which to develop and prove the technology. It has no immediate application.

But scientists at the J Craig Venter Institute and Synthetic Genomics, the company funding their research, intend to move quickly on to more useful targets that may not exist in nature.

They are particularly interested in designing algae that can capture carbon dioxide from the air and produce hydrocarbon fuels.

Last year Synthetic Genomics signed a $600m agreement with Exxon Mobil to make algal biofuels. “We have looked hard at natural algae and we can’t find one that can make the fuels we want on the scales we need,” Dr Venter said.

The researchers built up the synthetic genome of M mycoides, with its million chemical letters, by stitching together shorter stretches of DNA, each about 1,000 letters long. They then transferred the completed genome into the shell of another bacterium M capricolum whose own DNA had been removed.

The transplanted genome “booted up” the host cell and took over its biological machinery. After 30 cell divisions, there were billions of synthetic bacteria in the lab dishes – all of them making exclusively the biological molecules associated with M mycoides.

Experts warn of the risks as well as the benefits of synthetic biology. “We need new standards of safety evaluation for this kind of radical research and protections from military or terrorist misuse and abuse,” said Prof Savulescu.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/3dbad5ca-6431-11df-8618-00144feab49a.html

Also:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/biology_evolution/article7132299.ece

Email: sweetbyandbyx2@yahoo.com

As one who had a career in the molecular biology/genetics field, I can tell you that Craig Venter is out for fame, fortune, and beating everyone else to the punch to get it. This is an atrocity, with no purpose but obtaining patents and prosperity from ethically outrageous endeavors.

Thanks for posting, Judith. It sickens me, but I'm not surprised.

Once again Science claims creation when what they really did was alteration. There is a profound difference from converting energy into matter and from matter into a life form, then taking an existing bacterium...remove its DNA and replace it with their own DNA. All they are doing is using material that was already there to begin with. When they can create life from scratch I will be much more impressed.

I wonder who they copied the code from.

Knight Michael,

You are absolutely right. This same person and his buddies and comptetitors were out patenting DNA sequences with no understanding of what the DNA encoded - just patenting everything they could "read" so that IF it someday had an application they would already have patent rights to the sequence. As if a human being or a business entity has a right to "own" a DNA sequence. They simply "read" it first as though reading each letter on a page instead of the words; they didn't invent or understand it!

There ARE true scientists out there to whom we are indebted for what their research has taught us and added to our lives. But too many of them are cutthroat businessmen looking to turn a buck. I recently saw a program about the development of the polio vaccine. What a lot of politics was involved there! Something good came out of that in the end, but in the process there was a rush to be the first and gain financial backing that caused a lot of suffering from premature/misguided human testing.

AMEN and AMEN

I was going to post that this was a fraud, but you covered it better than I would have..




LOL.. Right on..

Joseph

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So in other words...they did not write the DNA...they just cobbled together shorter lengths of DNA with the sequences they wanted and "Frankensteined" it all together. How proud they must be. Ugggh.

Okay so you take the chassis of a car and replaced the engine and the interior with different designs...but all your designs were based on the original material...did you create a new car? Or just play a shell game?

It is kind of a shell game, BUT a very scary one.



The big things here are that the host cell DID "boot up" AND reproduce using ONLY the synthesized DNA. We've been inserting synthetic DNA into genomes for years. Apparently this is the first time the entire genome has been completely replaced with DNA synthesized in the lab from the individual nucleotides. Even though they are copied sequences, they are specifically selected to do what the "designer" wants them to do! The reason that it's a big SCARY deal is seen if you back up a little bit...



This is not something to dismiss lightly...I think it is one of the reasons God will not allow the world to exist as is much longer.