John
http://www.lineone.net/express/99/09/11/news/n0100splash-d.html
THE NEW GENESIS
BY TOBY MOORE IN NEW YORK
AND MICHAEL HANLON IN LONDON
A BLUEPRINT for the creation of life is about to be unveiled by scientists.
The mystery of creation, which took nature hundreds of millions of years,
may now be accomplished by Man within five years.
A leading genetics researcher has worked out the process to create a
synthetic bacterium. Scientists say it is only a short step to the creation
of much more complex lifeforms.
It raises the prospect of humans ultimately being able to create new species
of plants and animals. Dr Craig Venter revealed at a US science conference
in January that he planned to investigate the possibilities of making
bacteria using artificial DNA. The production of a written blueprint for
creating a synthetic organism so rapidly will confound sceptics.
It will make human beings the creators of other living forms far sooner than
expected, possibly just a few years into the new millennium.
The blueprint is now being submitted to the prestigious journal Science and
will astound the world of genetic research.
Professor David Magnus, a scientist at the University of Pennsylvania's
Centre for Bioethics, said that it would be "a short step" from making a
basic bacteria to creating animals and plants.
. . . .
But yesterday, Dr Helen Watt, a philosopher and bio-ethicist working for the
Catholic Church in London, said that "provided the motivation is right",
then creating a bacterium is acceptable.
"God creates human beings with intelligence and if they can use this
intelligence to create a bacterium then that's fine," she said.
But she said the Catholic Church would not countenance the creation of
higher lifeforms - or even of bacteria if the motivation was to do harm.
. . . .
Like a modern-day Dr Frankenstein, Dr Venter hopes to use parts salvaged
from dead bacteria to create his artificial bug.
He says the synthetic "designer bacteria" could have positive applications.
Scientists could learn how to produce customised genes that could help build
organisms for eating radioactive waste or cleaning up after oil spills, for
example.
They could also be programmed to produce a whole new generation of powerful
drugs.
Dr Venter runs the Institute for Genomic Research, a private company based
in Maryland which is taking part in the international Human Genome Project -
the unravelling of human DNA.
Using the super-computers and gene sequencing techniques used to decipher
the human genetic code, Dr Venter and his scientific colleagues have worked
out a blueprint for a living organism. Using artificial DNA, Dr Venter
believes that it is possible to build up a DNA molecule, gene-by-gene, that
will form the foundation for a synthetic lifeform.
He and his team worked out the basic number of genes necessary to sustain
life after dissecting the DNA of a simple bacterium, mycoplasma genitalium,
which is found in the human genital tract.
The scientists discovered that as few as 350 of the bacteria's 470 genes
were necessary to sustain its life.
They think that now they know the minimum number of genes which will make a
cell "work", they can build the first artificial living organism - something
able to eat, move, grow and reproduce.
Dr Venter says that his discussions with the world's major religions had not
deterred him.
"They have said there is nothing in their scriptures to prevent us from
making life artificially," he told a meeting of scientists.
. . . .
The late 20th Century was about discovering genes and tinkering with them.
The next century, he predicted, "is going to be about designing them".
© Express Newspapers Ltd