Posted on 10/06/2007 5:30:52 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
LONDON: Controversial US scientist Craig Venter claimed to have constructed a synthetic chromosome using chemicals made from the laboratory, a step towards the creation of first new artificial life form on Earth.
"This landmark will be 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," sources reported on Saturday, quoting Venter as saying.
He is expected to announce the discovery -- a feat of bio-engineering never previously achieved -- within weeks.
According to the daily, using lab-made chemicals, Venter and his fellow researchers have painstakingly stitched together the synthetic chromosome that is 381 genes long and contains 580,000 base pairs of genetic code.
The DNA sequence is based on the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium which the team pared down to the bare essentials needed to support life.
The chromosome has been watermarked with inks for easy recognition. It is then transplanted into a living bacterial cell and in the final stage of the process it is expected to take control of the cell and in effect become a new life form.
The scientists have already successfully transplanted the genome of one type of bacterium into the cell of another, effectively changing the cell's species.
The new life form will depend for its ability to replicate itself and metabolise on the molecular machinery of the cell into which it has been injected, and in that sense it will not be a wholly synthetic life form.
Venter said he was "100 per cent confident" the same technique would work for the artificially created chromosome. "We have carried out an ethical review before completing the experiment. We feel that this is good science."
But is it good for mankind? It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
Ping!
Now when Gore needs ‘extra one’ for his jokes he can use a synthetic one to avoid offending anyone.
Wait till they start selling “do it yourself” DNA kits for home use. And the terrorists get hold of some. Some idiot thinks he can engineer a virus to wipe out some group of people with a certain DNA signature and ends up wiping out the human race. Oops.
Exactly.
Here’s hoping that one day a chromosome can be developed for women who born with Turner Syndrome. Maybe this could possibly be the very beginning of such a thing.
“Kahn!”
At first I thought I read... Sympathetic gene discovered.
This would be a great as mandatory vaccinations of public services workers could greatly improve our world.
Can you stop the planet and let me off?
Kinda like makin' an M&M here:
At first I didn't like the idea, but then I thought I could create a species that can only survive by eating every part of a liberal. At least a dozen liberals a day or the species will die. Once the liberals have become extinct, the new species will too. I love happy endings.
Yea, and everybody thinks it is funny until an eye gets put out.
“Get your own dirt.”
Just because we can doesn’t mean we should.
btt
“This landmark will be 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,”
The arrogance of man when he starts to play God, and knows not just how ignorant his extensive knowledge is.
We are the Borg. Resistance Is Futile.
It’s called a quantum virus, and it only exists in science fiction, for now.
Can one be developed to wipe out liberalism in one vaccination?
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