Here’s One Big Step Toward Artificial Life

The much-anticipated creation of an organism based on genes assembled in the laboratory took a major step forward with an announcement by the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland. Scientists have succeeded in synthesizing the complete genome of a bacterium, Mycoplasma genitalium. If the stitched DNA can be inserted into a cell that then replicates, it will appear to have met the criteria for the first “artificial life” form. The organism generated by this minimal genome could then be used as a modifiable platform for the manufacture of biological materials like environmentally friendly fuels or cells that can break down pollutants.

Experts on biological weapons, along with those who worry about novel threats to public health from any source, are watching these developments closely. To address concerns that the bacterium could be a pathogen, the lab disabled a gene that enables the bacteria to attach to human cells.

Reports indicate that Venter and colleagues believe the next step—using the DNA strand to govern a functional cell—could be accomplished within the year. When that happens, synthetic biology will have decisively left the arena of science fiction and could be the beginning of industries based on cellular factories.

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