If you thought that designing life was the sole domain of nature or a divine power – think again.
A team of U.S. scientists is reporting that it has constructed the genome of a living organism for the first time. Assembling bits of lab-made DNA, researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Maryland say they have built the genetic structure of a bacterium from scratch in the lab.
The feat marks an historic, and controversial, milestone in the fledgling field known as synthetic biology. It uses chunks of synthetic DNA like Lego blocks, with an aim to creating life forms that can be genetically programmed to perform useful tasks.
Its proponents envision making micro-organisms that gobble up pollution, produce hard-to-make drugs, pump out clean energy, or, at the whimsical end, flowers designed to bloom on your birthday.
The field has raised profound ethical questions about human control of creation and its potential to produce new weapons of bio-terror. But the Venter project is also drawing criticisms of a different kind.
Bio-ethicists, and some scientists, allege the researchers have applied for such broad patents on their human-made genome that, if granted, they might give the group a monopoly on the making of all synthetic life forms – which some believe will fuel the next industrial revolution.
Until now, researchers had not crossed the technical barriers of putting together the whole DNA sequence of a single living organism, or even stretches of genetic code nearly 20 times smaller. But in a paper published online by the journal Science yesterday, the Venter group says it has done exactly that with Mycoplasma genitalium, a bacterium common to the human reproductive tract.
“It's the largest molecule made by humans… we don't know if there is an upper limit now,” said co-author J. Craig Venter, the upstart U.S. biologist and businessman who heads the not-for-profit institute. “The broader implications of this work have not been missed by us – we could enter into a new design phase of biology.”
The lab-made genome has not so far resulted in a living microbe that functions or replicates. But Dr. Venter said it is just a matter of time before they figure out how “to boot it up” by inserting the synthetic DNA into the shell of another bacterium. (The team showed last year that transplanting the genome of one bacterium inside the casing of another could bring it to life.)
“It is not just a slam dunk or we would be announcing it today,” Dr. Venter acknowledged. “There's multiple steps we have to overcome … but we are confident that they can be overcome. I will be equally surprised and disappointed if we can't do it in 2008.”
Dr. Venter, who also launched a company in 2005 called Synthetic Genomics, has received a multimillion-dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to find a clean energy source, possibly from microbes. But he said the current version of the M. genitalium genome will not be the template for that project.
With advances in computer technology, making bits of DNA from scratch has become relatively easy and cheap in recent years. Even amateurs can type up genetic code with keystrokes, e-mail it to a commercial lab that spits it out as chemical dots on a glass sheet, synthesizes it, tucks it into a bacteria for transport and returns a live version to the customer.
In the wake of the Venter group announcement, the ETC Group, a Canadian-based bioethics watchdog, dubbed the lab-made genome “Synthia” and distributed a statement calling the work “unacceptable.”
“While synthetic biology is speeding ahead in the lab and in the marketplace … there has been no meaningful or inclusive discussion on how to govern synthetic biology in a safe and just way,” said group member Jim Thomas. “In the absence of democratic oversight, profiteering industrialists are tinkering with the building blocks of life for their own private gain.”
