I AM CREATING ARTIFICIAL LIFE, DECLARES US GENE PIONEER
By Ed Pilkington in New York
The Guardian
Saturday, October 6, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/oct/06/genetics.climatechange
Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to
decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of
laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new
artificial life form on Earth.
The announcement, which is expected within weeks and could come as early as
Monday at the annual meeting of his scientific institute in San Diego,
California, will herald a giant leap forward in the development of designer
genomes. It is certain to provoke heated debate about the ethics of creating
new species and could unlock the door to new energy sources and techniques
to combat global warming.
Mr Venter told the Guardian he thought this landmark would be “a very
important philosophical step in the history of our species. We are going
from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it. That gives us the
hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated before”.
The Guardian can reveal that a team of 20 top scientists assembled by Mr
Venter, led by the Nobel laureate Hamilton Smith, has already constructed a
synthetic chromosome, a feat of virtuoso bio-engineering never previously
achieved. Using lab-made chemicals, they have painstakingly stitched
together a chromosome that is 381 genes long and contains 580,000 base pairs
of genetic code.
The DNA sequence is based on the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium which the
team pared down to the bare essentials needed to support life, removing a
fifth of its genetic make-up. The wholly synthetically reconstructed
chromosome, which the team have christened Mycoplasma laboratorium, has been
watermarked with inks for easy recognition.
It is then transplanted into a living bacterial cell and in the final stage
of the process it is expected to take control of the cell and in effect
become a new life form. The team of scientists has already successfully
transplanted the genome of one type of bacterium into the cell of another,
effectively changing the cell’s species. Mr Venter said he was “100%
confident” the same technique would work for the artificially created
chromosome.
The new life form will depend for its ability to replicate itself and
metabolise on the molecular machinery of the cell into which it has been
injected, and in that sense it will not be a wholly synthetic life form.
However, its DNA will be artificial, and it is the DNA that controls the
cell and is credited with being the building block of life.
Mr Venter said he had carried out an ethical review before completing the
experiment. “We feel that this is good science,” he said. He has further
heightened the controversy surrounding his potential breakthrough by
applying for a patent for the synthetic bacterium.
Pat Mooney, director of a Canadian bioethics organisation, ETC group, said
the move was an enormous challenge to society to debate the risks involved.
“Governments, and society in general, is way behind the ball. This is a
wake-up call — what does it mean to create new life forms in a test-tube?”
He said Mr Venter was creating a “chassis on which you could build almost
anything. It could be a contribution to humanity such as new drugs or a huge
threat to humanity such as bio-weapons”.
Mr Venter believes designer genomes have enormous positive potential if
properly regulated. In the long-term, he hopes they could lead to
alternative energy sources previously unthinkable. Bacteria could be
created, he speculates, that could help mop up excessive carbon dioxide,
thus contributing to the solution to global warming, or produce fuels such
as butane or propane made entirely from sugar.
“We are not afraid to take on things that are important just because they
stimulate thinking,” he said. “We are dealing in big ideas. We are trying to
create a new value system for life. When dealing at this scale, you can’t
expect everybody to be happy.”
