Posted on 05/20/2010 11:45:42 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) US researchers have developed the first bacteria cell controlled by a synthetic genome, in a breakthrough which may pose philosophical and scientific questions about the bid to recreate life.
"This is the first synthetic cell that's been made," said lead researcher Craig Venter, as the discovery was unveiled.
"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."
The team said it now hopes to use the method it has developed "to probe the basic machinery of life and to engineer bacteria specially designed to solve environmental or energy problems."
The method could be used to design bacteria specifically to help produce biofuels or to clean up environmental hazards, said the study carried out by the J. Craig Venter Institute, and published in the journal Science.
"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)," said Venter, co-author of the first sequencing of the human genome in 2000.
The researchers synthesized the 1.08 million base pair genome of the bacterium Mycoplasma mycoides, created from four bottles of chemicals which make up the components of DNA.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Those baby blue eyes would Dr. Mengele a tingle up his legs.
Still, if not complete it is a concrete step towards validating the Intelligent Design Theory.
Nothing like unintended consequences.
“let’s engineer one that eats hydrocarbons, and release it in the Gulf to help clean up the oil spill... I mean... what could go wrong?”
An organism engineered to eat hydrocarbons in order to cleanup oil spills was created in the 70s. It was the first patented organism. To my knowledge it was never released.
Accelerating evolution artificially requires intelligent design. How’s this for a grand, unified theory?
LOL!
We could call it Wormwood ...
We already have something called algae, that can do that.
Are you kidding? We already have him.
Ping
Wahabi fundamentalists will need to sell a F***LOAD of dates to continue to fund their jihadis.
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Thanks NormsRevenge. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
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And what happens if some nutcase combines the properties of Anthrax, Bubonic Plague, Ebola Zaire, Influenza, and maybe a few others?
It hasn't been? Darn! There goes my Pelosi theory.
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