Scientists create "artificial life" - synthetic DNA that can self-replicate

[begood]

In one of the biggest breakthroughs in recent history, scientists have created a synthetic genome that can self-replicate. So what does this mean? Are we about to become gray goo? Led by Craig Venter of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), the team of scientists combined two existing techniques to transplant synthetic DNA into a bacteria. First they chemically synthesized a bacterial genome, then they used well-known nuclear transfer techniques (used in IVF) to transplant the genome into a bacteria. And apparently the bacteria replicated itself, too, thus creating a second generation of the synthetic DNA. The process is being hailed as revolutionary.

How to make a synthetic genome

Researchers created a synthetic genome by copying an existing one — Mycoplasma mycoides — and transplanting it into Mycoplasma capricolum. How can we be sure that the M. mycoides is synthetic? When recreating it, the team added a number of non-functional "watermarks" to the genome, making it distinct from the wild version. Once implanted, the M. mycoides genome "booted up" the recipient cells, deleting or disrupting 14 genes. The bacteria went on to function normally, meaning the transplant worked.

"This is the first synthetic cell that's been made, and we call it synthetic because the cell is totally derived from a synthetic chromosome, made with four bottles of chemicals on a chemical synthesizer, starting with information in a computer," said Venter. "This becomes a very powerful tool for trying to design what we want biology to do. We have a wide range of applications [in mind]."

"If the methods described here can be generalized, design, synthesis , assembly and transplantation of synthetic chromosomes will no longer be a barrier to the progress of synthetic biology," write the authors in the paper (available free online from Science).

Proof of concept

At present, this is a proof of concept, but has some immense potential for the future. The research team at JVCI have been working on this technology for approximately 15 years, and now have a number of possible organisms planned: an algae that would suck up carbon dioxide and excrete hydrocarbons for biofuels; faster vaccine production; water cleaning; and using light energy to create hydrogen gas from water.

As anyone with even a glancing familiarity with scifi knows, self-replicating technology could lead to disaster. JCVI have done their due diligence here, and all their engineered creations require nutrients found in the lab to survive. They also have the technology to create "suicide genes" that will prevent the synthetics from living outside of a controlled environment.

Aware of the ethical and security issues involved, JCVI has also been in talks with the U.S. government since 2003, as well as being reviewed by independent bioethics groups since 1997.

Ethics of synthetic life

So what does this all mean? Beyond the applications I already mentioned, it's also helping us understand how life works - specifically, how it's transmitted through DNA. "This is an important step we think, both scientifically and philosophically. It's certainly changed my views of the definitions of life and how life works," Venter said.

Nature has compiled a number of opinions from prominent academics on the project. Everyone acknowledges that this is just the first step in what could be a very interesting development.

"We now have an unprecedented opportunity to learn about life. Having complete control over the information in a genome provides a fantastic opportunity to probe the remaining secrets of how it works," says Mark Bedau of Reed College, Oregon. "A prosthetic genome hastens the day when life forms can be made entirely from non-living materials. As such, it will revitalize perennial questions about the significance of life — what it is, why it is important and what role humans should have in its future."

Jim Collins of Boston University reminds us that there's still much left we don't know:

Frankly, scientists do not know enough about biology to create life. Although the Human Genome Project has expanded the parts list for cells, there is no instruction manual for putting them together to produce a living cell. It is like trying to assemble an operational jumbo jet from its parts list - impossible. Although some of us in synthetic biology may have delusions of grandeur, our goals are much more modest.

There's a long way to go with this technology, but this advance is incredibly significant, and from it we may see the dawn of a new revolution in molecular biology and genetic engineering.

Press Release, Article in Science

http://io9.com/5543843/

[Flubber]

Da, da si iar DA! Asta da progres stiintific, deja multi isi imagineaza o groaza de oportunitati cum ar fi si citez:

[...] and now have a number of possible organisms planned: an algae that would suck up carbon dioxide and excrete hydrocarbons for biofuels; faster vaccine production; water cleaning; and using light energy to create hydrogen gas from water.

Sa vedem ce ne rezerva viitorul ce le trec astora prin cap, ciudat e ca sunt in mana cu guvernul, poate o folosesc aia ca pe o superweapon ... glumesc, dar cine stie? xD

[begood]

evolutia e inevitabila.

Here's an idea : Nu vei mai putea avea incredere in nimeni care-ti da "papa", iti vor putea introduce tot felul de substante de la chestii toxice la tracking shit. Au deschis o poarta importanta care la inceput va face ravagii destul de urate, pana se va stabiliza treaba.

Probabil doar nepotii nostrii se vor putea bucura "tehnologie", noi si copiii nostrii vom trage tare s-o dezvoltam si sa-i contraatacam influentele potential distructive.

[firewind]

Nu este vorba doar de "papa", nici aerul respirat nu va mai fii sigur.Ca si orice descoperire, poate fii folosita si pentru si impotriva omului.

[begood]

Man-made DNA has booted up a cell for the first time.

In a feat that is the culmination of two and a half years of tests and adjustments, researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute inserted artificial genetic material — chemically printed, synthesized and assembled — into cells that were then able to grow naturally.

“We all had a very good feeling that it was going to work this time,” said Venter Institute synthetic biologist Daniel Gibson, co-author of the study published May 20 in Science. “But we were cautiously optimistic because we had so many letdowns following the previous experiments.”

On a Friday in March, scientists inserted over 1 million base pairs of synthetic DNA into Mycoplasma capricolum cells before leaving for the weekend. When they returned on Monday, their cells had bloomed into colonies.

“When we look at life forms, we see fixed entities,” said J. Craig Venter, president of the Institute, in a recent podcast. “But this shows in fact how dynamic they are. They change from second to second. And that life is basically the result of an information process. Our genetic code is our software.”

Coaxing the software to power a cell proved harder than expected.

After the Venter Institute announced in early 2008 that it had assembled a synthetic Mycoplasma genitalium genome, the assumption was that it would be running cells in no time. But this particular cell type, despite its minimal size, was not an ideal research partner. One problem was speed.

“We had to deal with the fact that M. genitalium had an extremely slow growth rate,” Gibson said. “For every experiment that was done, it took more than a month to get results.”

Moreover, transplanting the code into recipient cells was failing. So researchers cut their losses and called in a substitute, opting for the larger, speedier and less finicky Mycoplasma mycoides. The choice was a good one.

“Over the last five years the field has seen a 100-fold increase in the length of genetic material wholly constructed from raw chemicals,” said synthetic biologist Drew Endy of Stanford University. “This is over six doublings in the max length of a genome that can be constructed.”

Plunging costs of synthesis allowed a leap past the 1 million base-pair mark, from code to assembly. “Imagine doubling the diameter of a silicon wafer that can be manufactured that much, going from 1 cm to 1 meter [fabrications] in just five years,” Endy said. “That would have been an incredible achievement.”

“They rebuilt a natural sequence and they put in some poetry,” said University of California at San Francisco synthetic biologist Chris Voigt. “They recreated some quotes in the genome sequence as watermarks.”

It’s an impressive trick, no doubt, but replicating a natural genome with a little panache is also the limit of our present design capabilities.

Researchers, for instance, figure yeast can handle the assembly of 2 million base pairs, but they’re not sure about more. And an energy-producing cyanobacteria that sequesters carbon, Gibson says, is still several years off.

The ultimate goal, of course, is a brand-new genome from the ground up. Now, Voigt said, “what do you do with all that design capacity?”

Read More Scientists Create First Self-Replicating Synthetic Life | Wired Science | Wired.com