SCIENTISTS have created artificial life in a laboratory, leading to accusations they are "playing God' and tampering "with the essence of life".
Geneticist Craig Venter has delivered on a pledge he made 15 years ago: to create the first artificial life, a cell controlled by DNA built from scratch in the laboratory.
"This is an important step, we think, both scientifically and philosophically," Dr Venter said. "It's certainly changed my views of the definitions of life and how life works."
The creation of a new life form, which has been nicknamed "Synthia", paves the way for customised bugs that could revolutionise health care and fuel production.
The technology could be harnessed to create environmentally friendly bugs capable of producing biofuels and pharmaceuticals or removing pollutants from water or air.
"This is the first synthetic cell that's been made and we call it synthetic because the cell is totally derived from a synthetic (gene-bearing) chromosome, made with four bottles of chemicals on a chemical synthesiser, starting with information in a computer," Dr Venter said.
Source: The Australian May 21, 2010
Geneticist Craig Venter has delivered on a pledge he made 15 years ago: to create the first artificial life, a cell controlled by DNA built from scratch in the laboratory.
"This is an important step, we think, both scientifically and philosophically," Dr Venter said. "It's certainly changed my views of the definitions of life and how life works."
The creation of a new life form, which has been nicknamed "Synthia", paves the way for customised bugs that could revolutionise health care and fuel production.
The technology could be harnessed to create environmentally friendly bugs capable of producing biofuels and pharmaceuticals or removing pollutants from water or air.
"This is the first synthetic cell that's been made and we call it synthetic because the cell is totally derived from a synthetic (gene-bearing) chromosome, made with four bottles of chemicals on a chemical synthesiser, starting with information in a computer," Dr Venter said.
Source: The Australian May 21, 2010
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