This is HUGE. This gives scientists the capability to make ANY protien. Some of the possibilties include: Making organs from scratch that fit a person’s individual DNA with the “bad” parts replaced with “good” code; creating a new biofuel that is genetically designed to be as efficient and clean as possible…
Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first synthetic living cell.
The researchers constructed a bacterium’s “genetic software” and transplanted it into a host cell.
The resulting microbe then looked and behaved like the species “dictated” by the synthetic DNA.
The advance, published in Science, has been hailed as a scientific landmark, but critics say there are dangers posed by synthetic organisms.
The researchers hope eventually to design bacterial cells that will produce medicines and fuels and even absorb greenhouse gases.
The team was led by Dr Craig Venter of the J Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) in Maryland and California.
He and his colleagues had previously made a synthetic bacterial genome, and transplanted the genome of one bacterium into another.
Now, the scientists have put both methods together, to create what they call a “synthetic cell”, although only its genome is truly synthetic.
Dr Venter likened the advance to making new software for the cell.
The researchers copied an existing bacterial genome. They sequenced its genetic code and then used “synthesis machines” to chemically construct a copy.
Dr Venter told BBC News: “We’ve now been able to take our synthetic chromosome and transplant it into a recipient cell – a different organism.
“As soon as this new software goes into the cell, the cell reads [it] and converts into the species specified in that genetic code.”
The new bacteria replicated over a billion times, producing copies that contained and were controlled by the constructed, synthetic DNA.
“This is the first time any synthetic DNA has been in complete control of a cell,” said Dr Venter.
habits in the majority of Americans. HFCS is made from the same type of corn crop that is used to make Ethanol used to fuel E-85 vehicles. But recently, we may have yet another reason (like there aren’t enough) to avoid Corn Syrup. In a recent 
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