It is not science fiction, nor is it a dark experiment in the purest Victor Frankenstein style. It is a reality, and it has been carried out at the University of Bern (Switzerland), in which a Spanish scientist has created the first synthetic animal species .
It is a blind fly, with small and pink eyes, it is called Drosophila synthética , and it has been created from the vinegar fly ( Drosophila melanogaster ), an old acquaintance within the scientific community since it shares many genetic characteristics with the breed. human, and is used as an animal model in numerous investigations.
Its creator, Eduardo Moreno, designed “a technically complex genetic circuit, with several mutations”, and has published his results in the journal PloS ONE . Although other synthetic species already existed, such as cucumbers or some bacteria, this is the first animal species of these characteristics.
Synthetic or transgenic?
Transgenic species are also created from modifications in the genome, or from the introduction of genes from other species. However, transgenics can be crossed with the original species and give fertile offspring, that is, they are not a biological species as such.
However, synthetic species can only be crossed with themselves. “It only reproduces with those that have the same genome , in this case with Drosophila synthética , and not with the original ones. We have isolated it from the others, which is why it is a new species,” explained Moreno. Its advantage, he indicates, is that there is no danger of it contaminating the original species.
“This experiment is something like science fiction. It is basic science and philosophically it also opens an interesting debate. It shows the ground that science has gained in creation issues. At first it was believed that human beings were of divine origin, later with Darwin It was found that with evolution the species were modified. Now we create species in a laboratory. It is something very powerful “, the researcher has reflected.
