Dr Craig Venter Synthetic bacterium Synthia: Artificial Life – first cell controlled entirely by man-made genetic instructions
This is MASSIVE news right now.
I’m so sorry that I don’t have the time to research and comment more fully on the news that scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first synthetic living cell.
I’ve made a quick enquiry as to the significance of this news on a Christian forum, and a learned friend has responded thusly:
Perhaps I’m just grumpy, but I can’t say that I’m that impressed. It’s just a copy of existing genes (which is old science) put into an existing cell (which is old science, and even older creation). So what? It’s just nobody has done the whole lot before (because it takes a lot of time and a lot of money).
It’s like I photocopied a Shakespeare play and said “look I’ve created a new Shakespeare play”. Anyway I know a lot more fun way of making new life (-;
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Well, DNA synthesisers have been reasonably common place in the lab for almost 20 years. You have pots of your four nucleotides, your type in the sequence you want them attached to each other, press “go” and come back later to find your strand of DNA.
Nobody has used them to try to construct a whole genome before, because you need a lot of time and money to do that (and they used to be too slow and inaccurate to do very long sequences). The group made an initial nucleotide sequence in this way but then used yeast cells to maintain the sequences, join them together into larger sequences and amplify them up. These larger chunks of DNA, now being manufactured in much larger quantities by the yeast cells (as that’s much cheaper, faster and more productive than the sequencer originally used) were put back into yeast for final assembly. The assembled DNA was then taken out of the yeast and put into a bacterial ghost cell that has had its own DNA removed.
It’s an impressive piece of work, but it’s essentially taking existing code for life and existing machinery for using that code. It’s an extension of what has been done before. For example, most diabetics now use human insulin that is made by bacteria which have had the human gene for insulin inserted into their DNA. Or, there’s the good old glowing mouse – mice that have had genes for either firefly luciferase (the one that makes their bums glow) or green fluorescent protein (which makes jellyfish glow) inserted into their own DNA. This mix and match of genes has been going on for years. Venter has done it on a new impressive scale but I don’t think it raises any issues or questions that haven’t been around for many years now.
OK, I’ve got to dash off now (still out and about, and will be until Sunday), but I’ll leave you with a collection of Internet links gleaned this morning, and it’s interesting to note the ethical implications are beginning to be explored also:
(This one’s just for a laugh) NewsArse – Scientists in the US who succeeded in developing the first synthetic living cell have reported that it already appears to have attained eight GCSE’s at grade C or above.
MailOnline – Artificial life: Have scientists created a monster?
BBC Vid – Synthetic cell creator defends project – Are you playing God?
I’ll add to this list as and when I can.
May 24th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
@ Webmaster: It’s such massive news it’s impossible to take in all the possible implications. The first thing I’ve been picking up is the concern about intellectual property. I know the issue of patenting genes was already a big deal. It figures in GM too. The idea that genes or specific life forms could be the intellectual property of an individual or company is obviously a source of concern but, as you say, the whole story is so enormous it’s hard to evaluate what it’s going to mean.
I have to say one of my first thoughts was that I was heartily grateful not to be a Creationist. This must have knocked evolution-deniers clean out of their socks. It’ll be interesting to see how they’ll react.
May 25th, 2010 at 10:04 am
The article should have been titled as Synthia &? Apollo and their Synthetic Life.
Synthetic/Synthia/Cynthia
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Synthia
Cynthia or “Synthia” was originally an epithet of the Greek goddess of the moon, Artemis, who was sometimes called “Cynthia” because, according to legend, the goddess was born on Mount Cynthus. Known also as a master? of animals. Parallel Greek goddess to Roman goddess Diana. Daughter of Leto and twin sister of Apollo.
Synthia & Apollyon are one in the same… The hermaphrodite beast of the book of Revelations as seen as Apollyon and the ‘scarlet whore’ named? as Hel…
All you have to do is study the Apollo/Athena, whom is Synthia/Artemis, angle in every story/issue/matter, and you will find the source of the evil. Because the beast named as Apollo/Athena is at the core of EVERY evil ever seen down through ALL the eons and ages… That evil can be seen when? the connected names are completed… They touch every evil ever known…