A team led byCraig Venter, father of the human genome, has achievedmanufacture an artificial cell entirely in the laboratory. The finding, which the magazine collects todayScience, check theofficial start of the so-called synthetic biologyand makes way fordesign of microorganisms “a la carte”, whose DNA can be theoretically modified to incorporate the properties scientists desire.
“We can call it synthetic because it is totally derived from a synthetic chromosome, made chemically in a chemical synthesizer, starting from information in a computer”, explains Venter, who predicts that this advance could be used toproduce new fuels, design new algae that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, remove pollutants from water, and even make better vaccines.
As they count inScience, Venter and his team worked with asynthetic version of the DNA of a small bacteria calledMycoplasma mycoides, transplanted into another bacteria calledMycoplasma capricolum, from which most of its genetic information had been removed. After many unsuccessful attempts, the new microorganism began to show a life of its own in the laboratory. Finally, after several years of work, the transplanted DNA had managed to “take over” the cellular machinery of the new microbe and began to replicate.
“This has changed my view of the definition of life and how life works,” admits Venter.
