By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Friday, 25 January 2008
The possibility of a synthetic life form being created in a laboratory has come tantalisingly close to reality after scientists said last night that they had generated the largest man-made molecule of DNA – the chemical blueprint of life.
For the first time researchers, led by the controversial American scientific entrepreneur Craig Venter, have manufactured the entire DNA genome of a free-living micro-organism. This means that "artificial life" is on the verge of being created in a test tube.
The huge DNA molecule represents the chromosome that makes up the complete genome of Mycoplasma genitalium, a parasitic microbe that lives in the reproductive tract. Dr Venter and his colleagues made the chromosome by placing each of its 582,970 individual chemical units in their correct genetic sequence.
The achievement was the final step necessary before the scientists attempt their ultimate goal of inserting the synthetic genome into the empty "shell" of a non-living cell to see if they can create a fully-replicating, man-made organism.
Dr Venter said the aim of the research was to make new, artificial life forms that can help to solve the world's most pressing environmental problems, for instance by producing green biofuels, breaking down toxic waste or even absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. >>>more
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