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

Re:Thanks for the SuperFlu, Craig!

[kestasjk]

Turns the biosphere into gray goo? I really doubt there's anything (DNA based or otherwise) that replicates so much better than bacteria that it can turn everything, including bacteria, into gray goo. If something came close a bacteria strain would find a way to break it down, and thrive itself.

Re:You are correct!

[bckrispi]

I think my children would disagree with you as to whether or not I had any role in creating two of the billions of lives on Earth.

Perhaps. But the mailman wouldn't. :P