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Scientist claims to have created artificial life
Saturday Oct 6 16:00 AEST
By ninemsn staff
A controversial scientist claims to have created a new form of artificial life by building a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals.
In a move certain to provoke fierce ethical debate, DNA researcher Craig Venter is expected to announce that his team of scientists has successfully implanted the artificial chromosome into a bacterial cell, The Guardian reported.
The US-based scientists have "stitched" together 381 genes, based on the DNA sequence of the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium, a parasitic organism which can cause urinary tract infections.
The bacterium's already-small genome has been stripped back in the construction of the artificial chromosome, leaving only the material essential to support life.
Once the reconstructed chromosome is transplanted into its bacteria host, it will take control of the bacteria and become, essentially, a new form of life.
But the new life form, named the Mycoplasma laboratorium, will still depend on its host's existing properties to replicate itself and metabolise.
Mr Venter told The Guardian that he believed the project was "a very important philosophical step in the history of our species".
"We are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it. That gives us the hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated before," he said.
He said he had carried out an ethical review before embarking on the project, and talked up possible designer genome advances, including carbon-dioxide eating bacteria to combat global warming.
"We feel that this is good science," he said.
Saturday Oct 6 16:00 AEST
By ninemsn staff
A controversial scientist claims to have created a new form of artificial life by building a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals.
In a move certain to provoke fierce ethical debate, DNA researcher Craig Venter is expected to announce that his team of scientists has successfully implanted the artificial chromosome into a bacterial cell, The Guardian reported.
The US-based scientists have "stitched" together 381 genes, based on the DNA sequence of the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium, a parasitic organism which can cause urinary tract infections.
Once the reconstructed chromosome is transplanted into its bacteria host, it will take control of the bacteria and become, essentially, a new form of life.
But the new life form, named the Mycoplasma laboratorium, will still depend on its host's existing properties to replicate itself and metabolise.
Mr Venter told The Guardian that he believed the project was "a very important philosophical step in the history of our species".
"We are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it. That gives us the hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated before," he said.
He said he had carried out an ethical review before embarking on the project, and talked up possible designer genome advances, including carbon-dioxide eating bacteria to combat global warming.
"We feel that this is good science," he said.
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