>tiny excerpt:
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_556000/556984.stm
>By BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse
>Scientists are close to finding the essence of life - at least on a genetic
>level - and it comes down to about 300 genes.
But keep in mind that they exclude from the list of 300 genes all
the various genes typically needed to synthesize amino acids,
nucleotides, vitamins, etc. because such nutrients are supplied
directly to the little critters by the researchers. And as far as I know,
it takes a few genes to order these goodies from Sigma.
Of course, the media puts a sensational spin on this - "scientists
creating life from scratch." Uh, no. When you paste together 300 or
so genes supplied to you by Nature, this is not "scratch."
Mike