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2007-12-18 Science
Synthetic DNA on the Brink of Yielding New Life Forms
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Posted by gorb 2007-12-18 07:32|| || Front Page|| [11129 views ]  Top

#1 In the coming year, they hope to transplant it into a cell, where it is expected to "boot itself up,"

Please "boot" this old man up one of these.
Posted by Besoeker 2007-12-18 10:41||   2007-12-18 10:41|| Front Page Top

#2 With this they will soon be able to create NANO-FACTORY cells and then big changes begin.

Its good!
Posted by 3dc 2007-12-18 11:29||   2007-12-18 11:29|| Front Page Top

#3 We may even see a cure for socialism!
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2007-12-18 11:32||   2007-12-18 11:32|| Front Page Top

#4 "Get your own dirt!"
Posted by God 2007-12-18 11:46||   2007-12-18 11:46|| Front Page Top

#5 It is entirely different matter to modify existing cell by insertion of codon or codons to make it do some things... but creation of a fully artificial cell and expectation that it will bootstrap itself into life is a pipe dream.
Posted by twobyfour 2007-12-18 12:35||   2007-12-18 12:35|| Front Page Top

#6 The key, or master bootstrap code is
Posted by twobyfour 2007-12-18 12:41||   2007-12-18 12:41|| Front Page Top

#7 Cytochrome 16S RNA and all possible options have been already assigned. Or taken, depending on what paradigm you subscribe to.

Well, it is not something that in itself would be sufficient, it is like a code that has dependencies, pointing to oher segments that have further dependencies. Many layers of such dependencies... you think one may be dealing with straightforward chain, but that is not the case. It is something that if plotted would remind a multi-dimensional tesseract. Wheels within wheels.

Nanotech critters that would emulate life forms and reproduce, that is, in my humble opinon, possible.
Posted by twobyfour 2007-12-18 12:43||   2007-12-18 12:43|| Front Page Top

#8 Fred, what' is the reason that the word s l o t s does not let me post?
Posted by twobyfour 2007-12-18 12:44||   2007-12-18 12:44|| Front Page Top

#9 Many scientists say the threat has been overblown. Venter notes that his synthetic genomes are spiked with special genes that make the microbes dependent on a rare nutrient not available in nature. And Pierce, of DuPont, says the company's bugs are too spoiled to survive outdoors.

"They are designed to grow in a cosseted environment with very high food levels," Pierce said. "You throw this guy out on the ground, he just can't compete. He's toast."

Rather like Ted Kennedy

"We've heard that before," said Jim Thomas, ETC Group's program manager, noting that genes engineered into crops have often found their way into other plants despite assurances to the contrary. "The fact is, you can build viruses, and soon bacteria, from downloaded instructions on the Internet," Thomas said. "Where's the governance and oversight?"

In fact, government controls on trade in dangerous microbes do not apply to the bits of DNA that can be used to create them. And while some industry groups have talked about policing the field themselves, the technology is quickly becoming so simple, experts say, that it will not be long before "bio hackers" working in garages will be downloading genetic programs and making them into novel life forms.

"The cat is out of the bag," said Jay Keasling, chief of synthetic biology at the University of California at Berkeley.

But is it dead or alive?
Posted by KBK 2007-12-18 12:46||   2007-12-18 12:46|| Front Page Top

#10 "It is dead, Jim."
Posted by twobyfour 2007-12-18 12:54||   2007-12-18 12:54|| Front Page Top

#11 “In 2000, the cost of assembling sequences to order as roughly $10 to $12 per base pair… Some scientists foresee DNA synthesis dropping to 1 cent per base pair within a couple of years. That’s a gene for 10 bucks, a bacterial genome for the price of a car.” – Oliver Morton, “Life Reinvented,”--Wired

At a May 2006 synthetic biology conference gene synthesis companies were confidently predicting that the price would drop to $.50 per base pair by the end of 2007. Gene synthesis for oligos (shorter, single strands) is already at $.10 per base and a new method pioneered by geneticist George Church of Harvard University may reduce the cost ten-fold, to $.01 per base.
...
When asked by interviewers if they are playing God, Venter’s colleague Hamilton Smith gives a characteristically hubristic response: “We don’t play.”
...
Eckard Wimmer is even more blunt about the potentially deadly combination of accessible genomic data and DNA-synthesizing capabilities: “If some jerk then takes the sequence of [a dangerous pathogen] and synthesizes it, we could be in deep, deep trouble.
...
In June 2006, The Guardian (UK) announced that one of its journalists ordered a fragment of synthetic DNA of Variola major (the virus that causes smallpox) from a commercial gene synthesis company and had it delivered to his residential address...With approximately 186,000 base pairs, a commercial outfit could theoretically crank out the entire DNA for a synthetic version of Variola major in less than two weeks, for about the price of a high-end sports car.
...
DNA databases like GenBank could become as user-friendly as Google. In fact, the titanic search engine has signaled interest in storing all of the world’s genomic data in their google-farms...
...
An archaic human species, the Neanderthal has been extinct for some 30,000 years, but researchers estimate they will have a complete genome, 3.2 billion base pairs in length, in about two years.

Extreme Genetic Engineering (pdf, 76pp.)
Posted by KBK 2007-12-18 13:43||   2007-12-18 13:43|| Front Page Top

#12 But, can we grow a 5 assed monkey?
Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader  2007-12-18 14:38||   2007-12-18 14:38|| Front Page Top

#13 It is something that if plotted would remind a multi-dimensional tesseract.

But you can't figure the s-l-0-t-m-a-a-s-h-e-e-n

:)
Posted by Thomas Woof 2007-12-18 14:54||   2007-12-18 14:54|| Front Page Top

#14 As if shit from one assed monkey is not enough? ;-)
Posted by twobyfour 2007-12-18 14:54||   2007-12-18 14:54|| Front Page Top

#15 Woof, I did. I was just taken by surprise it is not allowed. Fuck shit, why not?
Posted by twobyfour 2007-12-18 14:58||   2007-12-18 14:58|| Front Page Top

#16 Fred has to fend off attacks from spambots that advertise gambling sites, which of course want you to play sl0ts, etc.
Posted by gorb 2007-12-18 16:35||   2007-12-18 16:35|| Front Page Top

#17 It all depends where they want to go. Mammoths are a holy grail of geneticists, and they have figured out how eventually they are going to recreate them. They even have a reservation in Siberia waiting for them.

However, after that, there will be efforts to make canine-human and feline-human intelligent crossbreeds. I say that is where the efforts are going to be, because that is where much of the fantasy lies, and research is often fantasy driven.

By far, the greatest majority of engineers alive today were originally inspired by Star Trek. Even before the series ended, there were jumps in several futuristic technologies that the series used. Oddly enough, it resulted in a huge jump in automatic door technology. People were willing to pay big money for automatic doors that opened like that.
Posted by Anonymoose 2007-12-18 16:37||   2007-12-18 16:37|| Front Page Top

#18 I want wings and possibly peacock feathers growing out my butt.
Posted by ed 2007-12-18 16:43||   2007-12-18 16:43|| Front Page Top

#19 It matters less what you want than what we want.

Judging from the Star Trek thing, that would probably be hot alien women.
Posted by Anonymoose 2007-12-18 17:03||   2007-12-18 17:03|| Front Page Top

#20 "Oddly enough, it resulted in a huge jump in automatic door technology. People were willing to pay big money for automatic doors that opened like that." (paging Douglas Adams)

Now this is why i read the Burg.

Bravo.
Posted by Drive by lurker 2007-12-18 17:16||   2007-12-18 17:16|| Front Page Top

#21 Wings would be nice, ed, but peacock feathers? Groving out of your butt?
A weird bird you are ;-)
Posted by twobyfour 2007-12-18 18:20||   2007-12-18 18:20|| Front Page Top

#22 Anonymoose, and then in the burn unit you would be saying with a bessotted expresion: But it was so.... sizzling!"

I'd take comely before venturing into hot! ;-)
Posted by twobyfour 2007-12-18 18:25||   2007-12-18 18:25|| Front Page Top

#23 It gets the ladies attention and it's cheaper than a Ferrari or yacht. But I draw the line at morphing into a hot alien chick.
Posted by ed 2007-12-18 18:39||   2007-12-18 18:39|| Front Page Top

#24 Ferrari, yacht, peaock feathers...?

How about a prehensile ... ahm... tail? ;-)
Posted by twobyfour 2007-12-18 18:59||   2007-12-18 18:59|| Front Page Top

#25 FARK.com Poster > Think BLADERUNNER and DARYL HANNAH'S? sexy synthetic character, SEX AND MARRIAGE TO SAME??? Ditto for realistic-looking, realistic-moving/sounding Japanese robots/
droids, ala STEPFORD WIVES.

CARTOON CHANNEL > FUTURAMA > SAVE EARTH FROM ALIEN DESTRUCTION - DON'T DATE ROBOTS!
Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-12-18 19:03||   2007-12-18 19:03|| Front Page Top

23:44 gorb
23:43 Whomong Guelph4611
23:36 JosephMendiola
23:36 Whomong Guelph4611
23:30 Eric Jablow
23:19 Eric Jablow
23:13 twobyfour
23:11 Eric Jablow
23:11 twobyfour
23:09 twobyfour
23:01 Steve White
22:57 trailing wife
22:50 Anonymoose
22:48 twobyfour
22:41 Abu do you love
22:39 Anonymoose
22:38 gorb
22:33 Abu do you love
22:30 twobyfour
22:27 twobyfour
22:26 OldSpook
22:23 Sock Puppet of Doom
22:21 trailing wife
22:12 3dc









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