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Scientists Develop Kill Switches In Case Bioengineered Microbes Go Rogue (upi.com)
schwit1 quotes UPI:
Scientists at Harvard have developed a pair of new kill switches that can be used to thwart bioengineered microbes that go rogue. Researchers have been testing the use of bioengineered microbes for a variety of purposes, from the diagnosis of disease in the human body to the neutering of mosquitoes. But there remain concerns about releasing manipulated microbes into nature. Could their augmented genes have unintended consequences? Could they morph and proliferate?
Kill-switches ensure the microbes effectively shutdown, or commit suicide, after they've executed their intended function. While kill switches have proven effective in the lab, researchers suggest kill-switch technologies needed to be improved to ensure safety in real-world environs... The researchers detailed their new kill switches in a new paper published this week in the journal Molecular Cell. "This study shows how our teams are leveraging synthetic biology not only to reprogram microbes to create living cellular devices that can carry out useful functions for medicine and environmental remediation, but to do this in a way that is safe for all," said Donald Ingber, founding director of the Wyss Institute.
Kill-switches ensure the microbes effectively shutdown, or commit suicide, after they've executed their intended function. While kill switches have proven effective in the lab, researchers suggest kill-switch technologies needed to be improved to ensure safety in real-world environs... The researchers detailed their new kill switches in a new paper published this week in the journal Molecular Cell. "This study shows how our teams are leveraging synthetic biology not only to reprogram microbes to create living cellular devices that can carry out useful functions for medicine and environmental remediation, but to do this in a way that is safe for all," said Donald Ingber, founding director of the Wyss Institute.
"Scientists at Harvard have developed a pair of new kill switches that can be used to thwart bioengineered microbes that go rogue".
Nearly right! But it's quite important to implement the kill switches BEFORE the microbes "go rogue" (whatever that may mean).
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
Seriously, has no one read Jurassic Park?
A handful of the elderly, perhaps. But even they know "it's only fiction".
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
You must pay a monthly subscription to your newly programmed genes or we pull the kill switch....
Assuming we are talking about bacteria and viruses that multiple by binary cell devision the real threat is viruses. Viruses come in all shapes and sizes and you can not assume one will not recognize your cell and try to coopt it at which point it will absorb some of the DNA of that cell as well as deposit some of it's own DNA.
Often times lateral DNA transfers like this are innocuous but there is always the chance something unusual will happen.. Fortunately as mammels we won't have to worry about mutation and passing stuff onto our children for the most part as those cells are mostly protected in our bodies. The real threat is for cancers and new transferable diseases.
puttng a kill switch in a bug is trivial. really really trivial. I've done it so I know. Lots of people do it.
the problem is making the kill switch not get edited out in future generations. I see that some of my bacteria have mutated out there's in a few generations. there was no selective pressure to do this either. So they are rare in the population 1 in millions. But as soon as I apply selective pressure all the other ones dies and those are the ones left.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Monsanto tried that too with their engineered crops. They were supposed to be unable to reproduce. And yet they did! Because mutations.
I think you're confusing three separate issues and believing they're a reality that fits what you want to believe.
Two: there have been lawsuits that monsanto pollen contaminated fields (you mention this below). It appears more likely the farmer in question intentionally cultivated GMO seeds, using roundup, and at any rate, that's much different from what you're suggesting.
Three: terminator seeds, which Monsanto developed, are unable to reproduce. These seeds were never sold. There's not much need: modern farmers aren't really interested in re-using seeds. First generation hybrids that are sold are superior, second generation seeds are a mix that aren't worth as much.
But hey, maybe you can react like they did, when they sued the farmers on whose fields the Monsanto crops had spread for copyright infringement and put them in prison for 10-20 years. Yes, that actually happened.
You're intentionally peddling lies here. The farmer in question planted the GMO seeds he didn't buy or license. I don't think he should have had to license seeds he obtained from his own land, so that part is shit, but he did knowingly use the seeds without paying the fee. He had to pay a small fine, NOT the lawyers fees, and he didn't fucking get sent to prison.
It's a matter of numbers. All your cells have dozens of kill switches built into them. They generally work for the 40 trillion or so cells you're made of for long enough. But that took billions of years of trial and error. And even with that, cellular evolution eventually overwhelms them and kills you with cancer.
The technology in question isn't applied. Hopefully even government regulators will be intelligent enough to realize that a single kill switch is no match for evolution.
These guys haven't heard of evolution?
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*