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First Successful Genome Transplant In Bacteria
eldavojohn writes "Researchers reported the first genome transplant from one bacterium to another, thereby transforming the species from M. mycoides to M. capricolum. The research, published in Science, shows that it is possible to achieve a success rate of 1 in 150,000 genome transplants in bacteria. While this may not seem like very good odds, it's actually a major step towards synthetic life, opening up the possibility of tailoring bacteria to our needs. The article mentions medical uses and fuel production as possible applications."
Agree, at least in respect to what the article did. But down the road if they start doing research on creating custom DNA strands (in essense synthetic life) because it wouldn't be mapped to an identical natural strand. It can potentially be bad. This can also be very good. If they can create a custom made bacteria that attacks cancer cells, or whatever possible health benefits can be made is good. Just making the point they need to make sure they keep the research contained, especially if they start making non-naturally occurring DNA sequences.