The place João Bordalo calls home: Dr. J. Craig Venter

Dr. J. Craig Venter

bordalix — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:16:00 -0500

Yesterday I was zapping through my TV and stopped when I saw a lecture in BBC World about DNA sequencing. The speaker, unknown to me at that time, had a unbelievable message to say: he's about to create the first artificial life form in the planet Earth.

Gene pioneer Dr. J. Craig Venter is one of the principal scientists who decoded the human genome and he was the invited speaker for this year Richard Dimbleby Lecture. if you have 43 minutes to spare, watch the video and try to answer the following question: what does the future hold in a DNA-driven world?

Update Jan 22: Excellent comment by Nuno Mendes.

RSS readers should click here to watch the video.

"Dr. J. Craig Venter" by Nuno Mendes

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:31:42 -0500

Interestingly, the Venter Institute announced today the development of the technology to synthesize a complete bacterial genome. They have done so for a slightly modified version of the genome of Mycoplasma genitalium, an organism which is widely regarded as one of the simplest. The synthetic chromosome is yet to be inserted in a living cell

"Dr. J. Craig Venter" by Nuno Mendes

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:34:57 -0500

Craig Venter, however, is not actually referring to the creation of a wholly-synthetic organism but rather of rewiring currently existing organisms to contain a particular biochemical pathway of interest. This is already done today. For example, all synthetic insulin for diabetics is nowadays produced by mutant E. coli. We also know of organisms that are capable of producing hydrogen, although only in strictly anaerobic conditions, therefore an industrial use is unfeasible for now. Much research is being done to overcome these problems, including in Portugal at the ITQB.

"Dr. J. Craig Venter" by Nuno Mendes

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:18:17 -0500

The question of whether we have already developed a synthetic organism really depends on how you define it. Mutant organisms are created every day in world laboratories consisting of bacteria producing proteins of interest; plant transforms that are created in order not only to obtain resistant crops but also to understand the complex biological networks that preside plant physiology; mutant animals are instrumental in medical and pharmaceutical research. Creating an organism from scratch is a completely different matter and would be an exciting accomplishment because it would mean that we would have solved many of the mysteries that still persist in our understanding of the simplest organisms. Much research is being done in trying to define the minimum metabolic network required for the most simple organism imaginable, but it is in all accounts still an incipient process. In this effort, the DNA molecule is relatively dull. We understand most of the processes associated with DNA, its replication and transcription, at least in organisms like bacteria. At the molecular level, several RNA species are much more exciting and mysterious and are also fundamental in regulating gene expression modulation. At the network level, we have yet to understand all the details of the biological networks that process signals, command the synthesis of metabolites, regulate cell cycle and schedule reproduction, although we are harvesting new knowledge at a staggering pace. In the following decades, if we succeed in producing the first wholly-synthetic organism it will most probably be extremely simple and also unable to live freely in the environment as it would be unable to compete with all the other more sophisticated species that have been adapting for millions of years.

"Dr. J. Craig Venter" by bordalix

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 04:04:15 -0500

@pfig man, you have to watch the video. if what he says is true, forget science fiction, we are way ahead of our time.

"Dr. J. Craig Venter" by Ricardo Vidal

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 05:58:41 -0500

I haven't seen this video yet, but I know who Craig Venter is and also know about his alleged work in making synthetic life. pfig, "creating *new* bacteria" is different than creating a synthetic life form.

Dr. Venter's homonymous institute are actually *building* the DNA of this life form from *scratch* per se.

I wrote about this in an earlier post. If it is true (no papers available yet...), this is amazing work.

"Dr. J. Craig Venter" by pfig

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 05:28:10 -0500

i don't have time to watch the video now, but haven't we created *new* bacteria before? or viruses? or is he talking about making spider-pig come true?