Sunday, May 23, 2010

Scientists have created the first synthetic cell!

Robert Lee Hotz writes about it in the May 21 Wall Street Journal. The synthetic cell is completely controlled by man-made genetic instructions. "This is literally a turning point in the relationship between man and nature," said one molecular biologist who was not involved in the project. The cell can reproduce. It is the birth also of an entire new field of scientific study called synthetic biology.

Applications are already being pursued in areas of industrial biology to breed industrial life forms that can secrete fuels, vaccines, and other commercial products. Politicians are already jumping on the issue: hearings will be held next week in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where politicians will no doubt grandstand as only they know how to do.

E.coli and yeast cells helped in the development of the complete genome. The creators of the cell wrote their names into the cell's chemical DNA code, along with three "apt quotes from James Joyce and others." The article did not say what those quotes were, but I'm curious. How about you?

1 comment:

Terri Wagner said...

My first thought is why on earth would you even put quotes in a synthetic cell. And my next question is does this mean finally we can regrow people's damaged organs so they don't have to suffer and die without using stem cells? And on the heels of that is this thought from of all places Juassic Park: Just because we can doesn't mean we should.