Team Claims Synthetic Life Feat

gertvs writes "According to the BBC scientists in the US have taken a step towards producing life from scratch in the laboratory by having successfully transplanted an entire genome from one bacterium cell to another. This technique could possibly lead to the creation of 'designer' microbes producing fuel or help cleaning toxic waste. 'The ultimate plan is to stitch together artificial chromosomes, proteins and other building blocks with the aim of jumpstarting their designer microbe to life. But Dr. [Craig] Venter concedes that this may be a long way away, but he says he has taken an important key step towards that goal. His team, essentially, snatched the body of another life-form and invaded it with a new genetic code. This, he says, will be a key tool in testing the artificial chromosomes - or DNA bundles - he plans to make. '"

Origins Of Life?

[Umbral Blot]

Reminds me of a certain cartoon: http://www.angryflower.com/goinaf.gif [angryflower.com]

Patents....

[king-manic]

Wait didn't another firm patent artificial life. The gall of these people, working hard to create something new. Thats simply un-American. They should really make vague patents wait for someone else to do the work and sue.

Imagination needed

[Anonymous Coward]

This technique could possibly lead to the creation of 'designer' microbes producing fuel or help cleaning toxic waste.

Oh come on! Have an imagination! This could make some really killer bioweapons! Or we could mine deer for oil. Convert puppies into kittens. Give George Bush a brain. Think of the implications!

The Venter Institute

[poopdeville]

This is very exciting. I took a class from someone who ended up working at the Venter Institute, so I'm pumped to see that they've made major progress.

On the other hand, the field of Artificial Life is small. Something on the order of a thousand other people are qualified to talk about this intelligently. So my hopes for discussion are pretty much nil.

Re:Inteligent design

[iamacat]

No, it would be an argument that a group of lab researchers are Gods for this particular bacteria.

Sounds Good, But....

[arollo]

When do I get to start playing God from the comfort of my own home?

Re:Mutation

[BiggerIsBetter]

But I bet we could engineer a microbe to kill those first microbes.

"No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death."