'Synthetic Genome' breakthrough

sink

Making headlines around the world this evening, scientist have programmed and brought to life the first cell with an entirely synthetic genome.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/science.1190719

Pretty exciting stuff.

Catsmokinpot

Exciting though this is, when i first looked at it i thought they had actually sequenced new genes all together, but they actually only just copied DNA onto a computer and synthesised it, so its not new DNA but just a copy of DNA.

My point is, The guy being interviewed on the bbc said "we created entirely new life" which is not true, they created a copy of exisiting life, which has been technically possible for a while, they are still very far from sequencing their own DNA and making "new" life.

sink

As far as I understand it, this breakthrough matters because previously genetic engineers had to splice new genetic code into an existing genome in a very hap hazzard fashion. They couldn't control precisely where it would graft and therefore couldn't guarantee success. Now they can create an entire genome from basic raw materials precisely as they intend. They can now 'copy' specific genetic sequences from any source and sew them together into their own designer genome with precision; blowing open the doors for genetic engineering.

Obviously they took what was already working in nature in order to prove their technique worked. If they couldn't do it with a natural evolved genome, they could never hope to do it with a custom built genome.

I wouldn't underestimate this, it's as significant a breakthrough for genetic engineering as the integrated circuit was for computer engineering, and we all know where that led us.

josey_whale

sink wrote: »

I wouldn't underestimate this, it's as significant a breakthrough for genetic engineering as the integrated circuit was for computer engineering, and we all know where that led us.

This is huge... What Craig Venter et al have done is create an entirely new organism. This has taken years to acomplish and has lead to the development of a whole new molecular biology tool box.

They have demonstrated that it can be done. Don't forget that it was only 15 years ago (1995) that the first microorganism was sequenced (H Influenzae)... look what has happened since!

Where is this technology going to be in another 15 years??

Capt'n Midnight

It's a little big chicken and egg since they need working cellular machinery to use the DNA. Yes it means they can start have more precision with ,but I'm sure there will be a few surprises along the way where they find out 'ah that we shouldn't have removed that bit'

Gurgle

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

It's a little big chicken and egg since they need working cellular machinery to use the DNA. Yes it means they can start have more precision with ,but I'm sure there will be a few surprises along the way where they find out 'ah that we shouldn't have removed that bit'

I thought the whole plan now was to remove everything until they have the 'minimum' set that can function, then add genes back in to see what each one does.
Thats how I'd do it... but then, I'm an engineer.

Capt'n Midnight

Gurgle wrote: »

I thought the whole plan now was to remove everything until they have the 'minimum' set that can function, then add genes back in to see what each one does.
Thats how I'd do it... but then, I'm an engineer.

They should be able to remove they whole system of methlating DNA bases which is just a protection mechanism against foreign DNA like viruses.

If they could remove the DNA altogether and use RNA instead you could remove even more pathways

The DNA sequence is 1.08Mbp so it was only a matter of time.

Tree

Next step, to identify chicken protein genes and some soybean genes and make selfmarinading chicken style tofu....

On a more serious note, it's pretty nifty what they did. I wonder will someone get bored enough to start messing properly with mitochondrial DNA, in advance of teh synthetic eukaryote...

darjeeling

josey_whale wrote: »

This is huge... What Craig Venter et al have done is create an entirely new organism.

Well they've really taken a published genome sequence of an existing mycoplasma and reproduced it from constituent nucleotides, with a few genes removed, and some barcode sequences added. They've then put their synthesised genome into a closely related mycoplasma, where it has functioned as it does in its original context.

When it comes to designing new genomes, I think for a while we're going to be limited to combining genes from existing genomes, with a few modifications. I don't think we've sufficient understanding of the complexities of protein folding to start designing genes from scratch.