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Voyage To Sequence DNA From the World's Oceans

Posted by simoniker on from the blub-blub dept.

joehoya writes "Wired has an extensive article about an expedition with the goal of discovering new microbial species and new genes in the world's oceans. The expedition is led by J. Craig Venter, who is best known for his involvement in the race to sequence the Human Genome. This is a really fascinating expedition with a pretty high geek quotient. I know, as I set up many of the computer and other electronic systems aboard, and traveled with the expedition as far as the Pacific side of the Panama Canal. In fact, you can see me (ok, the side of my head) in one of the article's pictures, next to the Captain while helping to take a sea water sample."

16 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. The ultimate goal here is... by darth_MALL · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sharks with frickin lasers on their heads.

  2. Yikes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    In fact, you can see me (ok, the side of my head) in one of the article's pictures, next to the Captain while helping to take a sea water sample.

    So that's what they're calling it nowadays, eh? ;)

  3. Taking a risk? by xCepheus · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wow, the submitter is really brave saying that he can be seen in one of the pictures. Pretty soon legions of young, nubile, slashdot-reading, geek chix0rz will be flooding his inbox with requests for... well you fill in the blank.

    1. Re:Taking a risk? by sarah_kerrigan · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hello,

      Pretty soon legions of young, nubile, slashdot-reading, geek chix0rz will be flooding his inbox with requests for... well you fill in the blank

      Requests for taking part of the expedition, of course 0:-) (ok, offtopic, come to me...)

      Kisses
      --

      --
      You'd stumble in my footsteps (Depeche Mode, "Walking in my shoes")
  4. Patents? by mangu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you think software patents are bad, then what about gene patents? It seems that a big part of any gene sequencing project these days is an effort to find patentable genes. How can one patent what has existed for thousands or millions of years in nature is beyond my comprehension...

    1. Re:Patents? by mmmmmhotpants · · Score: 3, Interesting

      No one ever patented the human genome. I agree, patenting what exists in nature has no merit.
      Nevertheless, I think gene/DNA sequence patents will be very important and fair. There are a handful of researchers today who engineering new proteins and genes which are better than anything found in nature; others create nano-machines built out of DNA/RNA sequences. After millions/billions of dollars of research, dedication, supercomputing, etc. I think these scientists and engineers have every right to claim a patent on their creation. At the present time writing biocode is many orders of magnitude more expensive than contributing to sourceforge (i.e. expensive scientific equipment vs. a PC). Without gene patents, unless you're Craig Venter or Paul Allen and just have money to play with for the sake of discovery, there is no motivation what-so-ever to create future theraputics and bio-devices.

      --

      can't sleep. clowns will eat me.
  5. privateer voyage by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Venter's genome survey is surely a dream geek voyage. But when he patents those genes, it's only his own dreams that will be coming true. Sure, Venter's entire career is built on public funding of open genomic science, back into which he declines to contribute. But even worse, many of the species he documents, and locks up for his own use, were developed over hundreds, thousands of generations of local people, coevolving and husbanding them into their beneficial condition. But Venter has the upper hand over the traditional genetic "developers", end-running them to capitalize on their innovations, only to license them back at a profit actually earned by his customers. Venter's technology is good, his science is great, but his economics is most foul.

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    make install -not war

    1. Re:privateer voyage by Angry+Toad · · Score: 4, Informative

      Venter is a grandstander and a media whore. There, I said it.

      He regularly trades off scientific benefit in favour of his own personal ego - to wit, most of the Celera genome is *his own DNA* and, even more egregiously, the dog genome is his own *pet poodle*, by all accounts.

      I've heard plenty of criticism of this latest bit of nonsense of his - he's going to grab plenty of attention as the father of "metagenomics" or some such nonsense, but it is going to be left to more rigorous scientists to come in and clean up the field that he has barged into.

  6. Cool by John+Jorsett · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Once we have the genetic codes of all species recorded, we won't need the actual creatures any longer. If we have a future requirement for an actual Green-Tinged Fin Wiggler we can just make one. Goodbye Endangered Species Act.

  7. Watch out for the Klingons! by RobertB-DC · · Score: 3, Funny

    Better get those DNA samples from the oceans before the Klingons get there. They'll get their sample and fry the place. Bastards.

    (What TNG episode was that, anyway? Google is not my friend today!)

    --
    Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
  8. possibly dumb question... by Daniel+Ellard · · Score: 4, Interesting
    If they just grab DNA out of microbes they find floating around in the ocean, how will they know what genes correspond to what? Wouldn't it make more sense to sequence the DNA of things about which we have some knowledge?

    (This isn't a rhetorical question -- I'm simply curious but ignorant.)

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    Disclaimer: I work for a company, but I don't speak for them.
    1. Re:possibly dumb question... by Angry+Toad · · Score: 4, Informative

      The basic idea is to get a sampling of the "genome content" of a volume of seawater, looking for genes related to, for instance, metabolism of metals, or peculiar photosynthetic components, or whatever. You then have an idea of both organismic and metabolic diversity in an area - do it straight down a water column and you see how this varies across layers of the ocean.

      Your point is a valid one all the same - this is a newish field called "metagenomics" and lots of professional scientists have been asking precisely the same question you did. The jury is still very much out on whether this is really going to produce anything useful.

  9. Near-infinite amounts of energy? by sssmashy · · Score: 3, Funny

    The great majority of Earth's species are bacteria and other microorganisms. They form the bottom of the food chain and orchestrate the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrients through the ecosystem. They are the dark matter of life. They may also hold the key to generating a near-infinite amount of energy, developing powerful pharmaceuticals, and cleaning up the ecological messes our species has made.

    Interesting article, despite the breathless hype that is typical of Wired science articles.

    How might these organisms hold the key to "generating infinite amounts of energy"? A cluster of H2S-metabolizing worms around a geothermal vent? Or have those deep-sea molluscs discovered the secret to cold fusion?

  10. First they put phenylphaline in the pool... by DavidBrown · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...and now they're goin' to do DNA testing of the ocean. Where the hell can I pee now?

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    144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
  11. This has nothing to do with patents by Jonathan · · Score: 4, Informative

    I work for TIGR, and therefore indirectly for Craig Venter (Well, actually I work for Craig's soon to be ex-wife, and so I'm not a big personal fan of Craig).

    Craig's institutes, TIGR, IBEA, TCAG are *not busineses* -- they are non profit research institutions. Yes, Craig is egotistical -- but the whole point of the Sargasso Sea is science. There is *no profit* to be made or patents to be issued. Yes, Craig worked for a couple of years at Celera, but that doesn't mean everything he's associated with is commercial, any more than Linus having worked at Transmeta makes Linux commercial.

    1. Re:This has nothing to do with patents by the+gnat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Furthermore, one of the problems with Celera was that the scientists involved were more interested in science than making money. I did some work for one of the former higher-ups who's now back in academia, and while he did very well from his association with the company, he's an academic scientist at heart. There's a good book out called "The Genome War" that goes into this in considerable detail; the corporate masters of Celera were apparently furious that Venter et al. were releasing so much data.

      The impression I got was that Celera was really formed because of huge egos and a conviction that their methods were better (which, in retrospect, they probably were), not because the scientists involved honestly thought this would be a great way to make money.

      As far as Venter's current enterprises go, the guy may be a dickhead, but I wish him the best of luck - he's doing fantastic science and he's consistently innovative. There is no shortage of arrogance among academic biologists, and Venter is by no means the worst case.