[QUOTE]Heralding a potential new era in biology, scientists for the first time have created a synthetic cell, completely controlled by man-made genetic instructions, researchers at the private J. Craig Venter Institute announced Thursday.
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Tom Deerinck and Mark Ellisman, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, University of California, San Diego Scanning electron micrographs of M. mycoide
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"We call it the first synthetic cell," said genomics pioneer Craig Venter, who oversaw the project. "These are very much real cells."
Created at a cost of $40 million, this experimental one-cell organism, which can reproduce, opens the way to the manipulation of life on a previously unattainable scale, several researchers and ethics experts said. Scientists have been altering DNA piecemeal for a generation, producing a menagerie of genetically engineered plants and animals. But the ability to craft an entire organism offers a new power over life, they said.
The development, documented in the peer-reviewed journal Science, may stir anew nagging questions of ethics, law and public safety about artificial life that biomedical experts have been debating for more than a decade.
"This is literally a turning point in the relationship between man and nature," said molecular biologist Richard Ebright at Rutgers University, who wasn't involved in the project. "For the first time, someone has generated an entire artificial cell with predetermined properties."
David Magnus, director of the Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics, said, "It has the potential to transform genetic engineering. The research is going to explode."
Leery of previous moral and ethical debates about whether it is right to manipulate life forms—which arose with the advent of cloning, stem-cell technology and genetic engineering—some researchers chose neutral terms to describe the experimental cell. Some played down the development.
"I don't think it represents the creation of an artificial life form," said biomedical engineer James Collins at Boston University. "I view this as an organism with a synthetic genome, not as a synthetic organism. It is tough to draw where the line is."
For the first time, scientists have created a synthetic cell, heralding a new era in biology. Shelly Banjo talks to Robert Lee Hotz about the huge implications of this development.
The new cell, a bacterium, was conceived solely as a demonstration project. But several biologists said they believed that the laboratory technique used to birth it would soon be applied to other strains of bacteria with commercial potential.
"I think this quickly will be applied to all the most important industrial bacteria," said biologist Christopher Voigt at the University of California, San Francisco, who is developing microbes that help make gasoline.
Several companies are already seeking to take advantage of the new field, called synthetic biology, which combines chemistry, computer science, molecular biology, genetics and cell biology to breed industrial life forms that can secrete fuels, vaccines or other commercial products.
Synthetic Genomics Inc., a company founded by Dr. Venter, provided $30 million to fund the experiments and owns the intellectual-property rights to the cell-creation techniques. The company has a $600 million contract with Exxon Mobil Corp. to design algae that can capture carbon dioxide and make fuel.
At least three other companies—Amyris Biotechnologies in Emeryville, Calif.; LS9 Inc. in San Francisco; and Joule Unlimited in Cambridge, Mass.—are working on synthetic cells to produce renewable fuels.
Although patents on single genes now face legal challenges, Dr. Venter said he intends to patent his experimental cells. "They are pretty clearly human inventions," he said.
Before making their work public, the researchers said, they briefed White House officials, members of Congress and officials from several government agencies. Within minutes of Thursday's announcement, the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced it would hold a public hearing on the new technology next week.
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They're alive! :biggrin:
So what defines this as a synthetic cell? Is it a mashup of DNA of other cells, or something else?
Lol umbrella corp.
Cool. I wonder how long it will take before they start making multicellular organisms.
Sauce please
This is almost too cool to be real, gotta have a source before I can believe it.
Sure it sounds good. But it costs so much just to make one
What happens when we integrate these with computers?
And now all the right-wingers are going to complain about scientists playing god.
Amazing. We're really moving along scientifically in the last few years.
[QUOTE=Upgrade123;22074305]What happens when we integrate these with computers?[/QUOTE]
Geth.
[QUOTE=Boba_Fett;22074884]Geth.[/QUOTE]
I want a legion.
[QUOTE=aznz888;22073772][img]http://residentevil.neoseeker.com/w/i/residentevil/2/22/Nemesis.jpg[/img]
sup[/QUOTE]
[img]http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/resistance-2-leviathan-boss.jpg[/img]
nothin' much
Really, though, this is monstrously important. Just think about it. Hyper-efficient oxygen factories, waste destroyers, chemical secreters, etc. This is a whole new field of industry that was just opened up.
:science:
,,,,,,, its sad but i just read on the bbc news site there planning on already banning it :/
Garry Newman creates search function for Facepunch: Users don't know what it does.
[QUOTE=IAmIchigo;22089439],,,,,,, its sad but i just read on the bbc news site there planning on already banning it :/[/QUOTE]
Research will just move to a more sensible country.
[QUOTE=BANNED USER;22089633]Garry Newman creates search function for Facepunch: Users don't know what it does.[/QUOTE]
Garry Newman clearly states multiple times search is broken, puts up message after search that says "Sorry, this type of search is disabled until we get a nice fast slave database up and running."
[QUOTE=Ultragamer05;22074612]And now all the right-wingers are going to complain about scientists playing god.[/QUOTE]
Yes, because it is true; they are playing God and they will get punished.
[QUOTE=deepneau;22090231]Yes, because it is true; they are playing God and they will get punished.[/QUOTE]
i'll give you $500 if they get punished by your sky fairy friend
[QUOTE=Zeke129;22089720]Research will just move to a more sensible country.[/QUOTE]
Like rapture.
[editline]12:32AM[/editline]
[QUOTE=deepneau;22090231]Yes, because it is true; they are playing God and they will get punished.[/QUOTE]
Religious people have always been trying to hold back science. OMG DONT FLY INTO SPACE YOU'LL POKE HEAVEN!
[QUOTE=deepneau;22090231]Yes, because it is true; they are playing God and they will get punished.[/QUOTE]
Get out, you and your group of people afraid of progress.
I think this is pretty epic, this lifeform is a real alien. No it didn't come from space, but it's not native to Earth either.
And this is good but equally bad, what if they make some kind zombification virus, or a new species of insect that takes over the world?
We should turn our attention to the stars, fucking with microbes can be bad...
[QUOTE=Upgrade123;22074305]What happens when we integrate these with computers?[/QUOTE]
Your next generation computer will have a pulse.
Ew.
I want to make a cat dog man bear pig fish tiger zebra kangaroo now!
[editline]08:50PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=deepneau;22090231]Yes, because it is true; they are playing God and they will get punished.[/QUOTE]
Your avatar shows you are clearly not biased at all.
Get out you fucking religious fanatic, we don't want your radical shit here!
[QUOTE=Ultragamer05;22074612]And now all the right-wingers are going to complain about scientists playing god.[/QUOTE]
I'm right wing, buzz off.
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