Scientists Build Possibly The First Man-Made Genome

hackingbear writes "Wired is reporting that researchers have created the longest synthetic genome to date by threading together four long strands of DNA. 'Leading synthetic biologists said with the new work, published Thursday in the journal Science, the first synthetic life could be just months away — if it hasn't been created already. [...] The ability to synthesize longer DNA strands for less money parallels the history of genetic sequencing, where the price of sequencing a human genome has dropped from hundreds of millions of dollars to about $10,000. Just a few years ago, synthesizing a piece of DNA with 5,000 rungs in its helix, known as base-pairs, was impossible. Venter's new synthetic genome is 582,000 base-pairs.' As a programmer, I'm most excited by the possibility of a new platform and the programming jobs that will be created by it."

Comments

Thanks for the SuperFlu, Craig!

[nebrshugyo]

If Venter and company royally screw-up, and create some bug that kills us all, or turns the biosphere to a pile of gray goo, nobody's going to make any money off of dandy, new, commoditized designer life forms. Where do I complain?

Re:Thanks for the SuperFlu, Craig!

[Fallingcow]

I'd be more worried about the tech becoming common enough and easy enough to use that anyone with $100,000 and some spare time can make a super-virus, or a bacterium that is extremely hardy and destroys wheat or rice crops, or any number of other nasty things.

Re:Thanks for the SuperFlu, Craig!

[KublaiKhan]

If 'grey goo' could happen from nanotech or biotech, then bacteria would have done it already.

So far, all that's happened is some assorted earthtone sludge.

Re:Thanks for the SuperFlu, Craig!

[Cheesey]

You forgot about all the other life on Earth.

We are the grey goo. The plants and the bacteria had a good go at spreading all over Earth, but we spread further and faster than any previous life. The "grey goo scenario" is limited by the assumption that energy is abundant, and indeed energy (food) shortages are all that stops us covering every inch of the world.

I, for one, welcome my fellow grey goo overlords.

Impossible?

[XxtraLarGe]

Just a few years ago, synthesizing a piece of DNA with 5,000 rungs in its helix, known as base-pairs, was impossible. Yet, somehow we've managed to have life on earth...

Wonderful

[pnewhook]

As a programmer, I'm most excited by the possibility of a new platform and the programming jobs that will be created by it.

Geez. The LAST thing society needs is a bunch of synthesized clones running around with hacked up spaghetti code for genes.

An omission

[leob]

The article does not say if it's methylated in the right places.

Procedural Abstraction

[Aram Fingal]

In the article, Venter says that they will need something similar to high level programming tools in order to accomplish useful modifications. I think that there is already plenty of evidence that genetic systems have procedural abstraction. In talking about gene activation, Biologists often use the term "ordered cascade" to describe what's happening when one gene activates a few more and those genes, in turn, activate other genes. If you think about it, it's exactly like subroutines of a program. Construction of the bacterial flagellum, for example, starts with the activation of one gene, which activates others, leading to the contribution of about 25 genes. These genes contribute various parts of the flagellum and activation of the cellular machinery to put it together and attach it to the cell wall.