Lots of Ink: Venter Institute mixes two microbes, says a synthetic bacterium is still its aim
In Science today researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute say they have, in their (ie Venter’s) words, booted up a cell of one species of Mycoplasma with the one-chromosome genome of a relative, thus converting it into the latter species. Interesting turn of phrase: booting up an organism. Some are calling it a DNA transplant. Of course, slipping in the odd gene here and there with a virus or other vector is nothing new, but to swap out the whole genome for that of another species is.
This is a step forward in Venter’s well-publicized ambition to generate an artificial genome from scratch. Thus would be born an organism whose phylogenetic tree has a stubby branch from nought but one node: Venter and his gang’s lineup of DNA synthesizers. They have a name picked out, too: Mycoplasma laboratorium. Of interest to The Tracker, who must have missed this twist previously, is that among the first roles for eventual human-made microbes is, say Venter and his people, to be a whiz at making biofuels. That might be great. But whattaya bet, somewhere in that syngenome, will be Venter’s encoded signature? (And his inventions’ll infect us ALL. They’ll transmogrify our gametes. Forever and ever our descendants will be stamped VENTER!! …. or not. Hyperventilation complete.)
-CP
Stories:
NY Times Nicholas Wade puts, among the huzzahs, one source up high who say this isn’t all that big a deal; Washington Post Rick Weiss is among those who has Venter (à la AAAS press release) comparing it to “changing a Macintosh computer into a PC..” but also relays some of the skepticism. His kicker quote is “There are a lot of missing dot-dot-dots…” ; Business Week John Carey notes that Venter is gaining competitors in the new field of synthetic biology, and that would-be bioterrorists are following this news too; The Herald (UK) James Morgan focusses on worries where this is headed, with a source saying “…God has competition.” ; AP Lauran Neergaard has a nifty lede “Talk about identity theft…” and also notes that, as bacteria go, mycoplasma are about as simple as it gets — and these two were mighty close relatives to start with; Wall St. Journal Gautam Naik; Los Angeles Times Karen Kaplan; Ottawa Citizen Margaret Munro has “…ethically troubling territory” in the 2d graf; Telegraph (UK) Roger Highfield calls it a landmark breakthrough and that artificial life may only be a matter of months. Then he gets into the creepy feelings some get from it all; Reuters Maggie Fox; Guardian (UK) Ian Sample plays it straight at top, and further down works in bioweapon fears;
Grist for the Mill:
Venter Institute Press Release; AAAS Press Release;
Sort-of-Related News: Scotsman Sybille de la Hamaide: GM crops: ‘Point of no return in ten years’ (and that’s what a Monsanto rep says).
