The birth of human-made life forms

Until last week, life was created by gods or nature, depending on your stance on evolution.

Now, two American scientists have created such life, not cackling away in a castle on a hill, but in a lab in Maryland, USA. By using computers, they have given birth to a new species.

For some it spells danger and amounts to men playing God. But for those involved, it represents a new industrial revolution, allowing us to invent solutions for medicine, energy, climate change and beyond.

The science

Craig Venter, Hamilton Smith and their team of twenty-six scientists successfully invented life by changing the DNA of an existing bacteria cell.

Every living cell has a genome – a set of DNA instructions given to it by the cell that produced it (for us our parents).

The genome of the man-made synthetic cell – nicknamed ‘Synthia’ by a group of Canadian scientists – was designed on a computer.

Firstly, they took the existing bacteria cell and wrote its entire genome (1 million+ base pairs of DNA) as code on a computer file.

They then edited that file – painstakingly subtracting DNA code and adding their own. It was then sent to a DNA sequencing company who turned it into hundreds of pieces of real life DNA using chemicals.

They used the natural capabilities of yeast and other bacteria to put all the small pieces of DNA together into one genome.

Once this was completed, they added the man-made genome to the empty living cell. This transformed the original cell into the new synthetic cell and voila, a new species.

As a result, Synthia is the first cell to have no ancestors – its parents are the computer.

The process is similar to genetic engineering, which has been around for a while and subtly alters a cell to make them perform better.

But synthetic biology is done on a much larger scale, to the point that it is inventing, not altering.

And it’s different to stem cell science, which is simply multiplying healthy cells we already have to give to sick people.

Synthetic cell creation allows humans to invent organisms that will help us in the areas where nature falls short.

The benefits

Dr Venter says that this is a baby step in the world of synthetic life, but the potential benefits are huge.

The technology could be used to improve medical drugs like the flu vaccine, and invent new ones.

It could also be used to create clean fuel to replace oil and others, or bacteria to absorb greenhouse gases.

And of course, it could be used to improve everyday industrial items such as chemicals and crops.

In the long-term, the possibilities are endless.

The dangers

But critics say there are serious ethical issues and dangers surrounding the technology.

First of all, many believe it’s taking over God’s work, and such “tampering” with nature should be outlawed.

Others worry that the technology might get into the hands of the wrong people who may use it for harm – creating a deadly virus or a supercharged rhinoceros perhaps.

They also fear that good-intentioned people might unknowingly unleash a terrible new being, with the unfortunate reality that biological inventions can breed by themselves.

The uncertainties of such a concept are justifiably concerning and laws governing the field will need to be made.

However, from the science point of view, it seems the biologists’ work has been fairly full-proof. Their process and latest research has been reviewed by fellow scientists and so far withstood any scrutiny.

According to one expert, they are merely combining the best of previous research and bringing it all together.

What next?

The technology is owned by Dr Venter’s company Synthetic Genomes.

He says he’ll now start working on more complex cells that have some use (Synthia was only a demonstration project).

His company already has a US$600 million contract with oil giant Exxon Mobil to design algae that can capture carbon dioxide and make fuel.

Meanwhile, three other companies in America are working on synthetic cells to make renewable fuel.

The American government was briefed about the technology prior to Thursday’s announcement and will be holding a public hearing on it next week.

Environmental groups have asked the government to quickly create rules around the technology, while a Canadian group has asked for a global suspension on activity until such rules are established.

In any case, the technology has arrived. Thanks to computer progress, what used to take years and cost millions now requires days and thousands.

Computer databases are filling up with the genomes of all kinds of living things. And these codes will be the foundation for synthetic biology in the future.

It appears Dr Venter and Dr Smith have ushered in a new era that could literally change life forever.

By The Casual Truth

Photo – Dr Craig Venter