Synthetic DNA replicated by living organism for first time
ShepherdsDog @ Thu May 08, 2014 12:59 pm
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/synth ... -1.2636341
$1:
Scientists have taken the first steps toward writing the blueprint of life in an alphabet unknown to nature, they reported online in the journal Nature this week.
Until now, biologists synthesizing DNA in the lab have used the same molecules — called bases — that are found in nature. But Floyd Romesberg of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., and colleagues not only created two new bases, but also inserted them into a single-cell organism and found that the invented bases replicate like natural DNA, though more slowly and only if the buildings blocks are supplied.
The scientists reported that they got the organisms, the common bacteria E. coli, to replicate about 24 times over the course of 15 hours.
Synthetic DNA
Four nucleotide bases, denoted as A,T,G and C, form two base-pairs that combine to create genes. Genes in turn code for proteins. Researchers have inserted an entirely new, synthetic base-pair into bacterial DNA. The bacterium was then able to replicate the synthetic base-pairs, as long as the molecular building blocks were supplied by researchers. (Nature)
The accomplishment "redefines this fundamental feature of life," wrote biologists Ross Thyer and Jared Ellefson of the University of Texas, Austin, in a commentary in Nature on Wednesday.
The booming field of synthetic biology holds promises for creating new antibiotics and other drugs. It has also raised concerns scientists are "playing God" by creating living things that could escape from labs into the outside world with nothing to check their spread.
Until now, biologists synthesizing DNA in the lab have used the same molecules — called bases — that are found in nature. But Floyd Romesberg of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., and colleagues not only created two new bases, but also inserted them into a single-cell organism and found that the invented bases replicate like natural DNA, though more slowly and only if the buildings blocks are supplied.
The scientists reported that they got the organisms, the common bacteria E. coli, to replicate about 24 times over the course of 15 hours.
Synthetic DNA
Four nucleotide bases, denoted as A,T,G and C, form two base-pairs that combine to create genes. Genes in turn code for proteins. Researchers have inserted an entirely new, synthetic base-pair into bacterial DNA. The bacterium was then able to replicate the synthetic base-pairs, as long as the molecular building blocks were supplied by researchers. (Nature)
The accomplishment "redefines this fundamental feature of life," wrote biologists Ross Thyer and Jared Ellefson of the University of Texas, Austin, in a commentary in Nature on Wednesday.
The booming field of synthetic biology holds promises for creating new antibiotics and other drugs. It has also raised concerns scientists are "playing God" by creating living things that could escape from labs into the outside world with nothing to check their spread.
Does shit like this make anybody else feel a little apprehensive?
Jabberwalker @ Thu May 08, 2014 1:34 pm
They had better know what the hell they're doing.
ShepherdsDog @ Thu May 08, 2014 4:54 pm
....and so begins the great zombie plague or Captain Trips
Goober911 @ Thu May 08, 2014 5:08 pm
ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/synthetic-dna-replicated-by-living-organism-for-first-time-in-u-s-study-1.2636341
Does shit like this make anybody else feel a little apprehensive?
$1:
Scientists have taken the first steps toward writing the blueprint of life in an alphabet unknown to nature, they reported online in the journal Nature this week.
Until now, biologists synthesizing DNA in the lab have used the same molecules — called bases — that are found in nature. But Floyd Romesberg of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., and colleagues not only created two new bases, but also inserted them into a single-cell organism and found that the invented bases replicate like natural DNA, though more slowly and only if the buildings blocks are supplied.
The scientists reported that they got the organisms, the common bacteria E. coli, to replicate about 24 times over the course of 15 hours.
Synthetic DNA
Four nucleotide bases, denoted as A,T,G and C, form two base-pairs that combine to create genes. Genes in turn code for proteins. Researchers have inserted an entirely new, synthetic base-pair into bacterial DNA. The bacterium was then able to replicate the synthetic base-pairs, as long as the molecular building blocks were supplied by researchers. (Nature)
The accomplishment "redefines this fundamental feature of life," wrote biologists Ross Thyer and Jared Ellefson of the University of Texas, Austin, in a commentary in Nature on Wednesday.
The booming field of synthetic biology holds promises for creating new antibiotics and other drugs. It has also raised concerns scientists are "playing God" by creating living things that could escape from labs into the outside world with nothing to check their spread.
Until now, biologists synthesizing DNA in the lab have used the same molecules — called bases — that are found in nature. But Floyd Romesberg of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., and colleagues not only created two new bases, but also inserted them into a single-cell organism and found that the invented bases replicate like natural DNA, though more slowly and only if the buildings blocks are supplied.
The scientists reported that they got the organisms, the common bacteria E. coli, to replicate about 24 times over the course of 15 hours.
Synthetic DNA
Four nucleotide bases, denoted as A,T,G and C, form two base-pairs that combine to create genes. Genes in turn code for proteins. Researchers have inserted an entirely new, synthetic base-pair into bacterial DNA. The bacterium was then able to replicate the synthetic base-pairs, as long as the molecular building blocks were supplied by researchers. (Nature)
The accomplishment "redefines this fundamental feature of life," wrote biologists Ross Thyer and Jared Ellefson of the University of Texas, Austin, in a commentary in Nature on Wednesday.
The booming field of synthetic biology holds promises for creating new antibiotics and other drugs. It has also raised concerns scientists are "playing God" by creating living things that could escape from labs into the outside world with nothing to check their spread.
Does shit like this make anybody else feel a little apprehensive?
The genie is out of the bottle and you can rest assured it will have significant impacts, morally, ethically and what is right or not.
And yes these creations always escape. By error or intent
Look at the new diseases that can be created with no cure.
wildrosegirl @ Thu May 08, 2014 5:10 pm
Keep messin' with Mother Nature, boys.
What kind of plan do you have in place when she decides to kick your asses back where they belong?
ShepherdsDog @ Thu May 08, 2014 5:41 pm
This goes beyond tinkering. They've created completely new strains of DNA that have never existed before this. Most life on earth shares the same genetic coding, with minor alterations. This goes beyond that, and if something fucks up, the consequences would spread beyond humanity.
Jabberwalker @ Thu May 08, 2014 5:54 pm
Organisms "gene swap" as well and synthetic genes developed to say, kill Cotton Weevils could end up in our own genome, eventually ... carried there by simple gut bacteria. The systems that develop around living things are infinitely more complex than what we can imagine with our "streamlined" ideas of cause and effect.
wildrosegirl @ Thu May 08, 2014 6:01 pm
ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:
This goes beyond tinkering. They've created completely new strains of DNA that have never existed before this. Most life on earth shares the same genetic coding, with minor alterations. This goes beyond that, and if something fucks up, the consequences would spread beyond humanity.
If that was directed at me, I'm aware. Hence the comment about Mother Nature kicking their asses. Keep screwing with her stuff and pissing her off, and we'll all be gone with one mighty swish of her broom.
You'd think by this point in the game, humans would realize that you NEVER, NEVER, EVER mess with Mother. It always ends badly.
sandorski @ Thu May 08, 2014 7:45 pm
Interesting stuff.