1. neurophilosophy
  2. Craig Venter creates synthetic chromosome

Craig Venter creates synthetic chromosome

By neurophilosophy on October 6, 2007.

The Guardian reports that Craig Venter has created a synthetic chromosome:

[We] can reveal that a team of 20 top scientists assembled by Mr Venter, led by the Nobel laureate Hamilton Smith, has already constructed a synthetic chromosome, a feat of virtuoso bio-engineering never previously achieved. Using lab-made chemicals, they have painstakingly stitched together a chromosome that is 381 genes long and contains 580,000 base pairs of genetic code.

The DNA sequence is based on the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium which the team pared down to the bare essentials needed to support life, removing a fifth of its genetic make-up. The wholly synthetically reconstructed chromosome, [has been] christened Mycoplasma laboratorium.

The story goes on to describe how Venter and his colleagues plan to insert the synthetic chromosome into bacterial cells to create "the first new artificial life form on Earth."

The newspaper also has an interview with Venter.

Tags
Molecular Biology

More like this

Talking to Craig Venter
Last week I appeared on bloggingheads.tv, talking about life in all its weirdness with science writer John Horgan. The folks at bloggingheads.tv wondered if I'd come back, perhaps bringing along a scientist to talk to. I said, Of course. The scientist I've invited along is Craig Venter. In the…
It's ALIVE!
Get in the mood for this bit of news, the synthesis of an artificial organism by Craig Venter's research team. Here's the equivalent of that twitching hand of Frankenstein's monster: Those are two colonies of Mycoplasma mycoides, their nucleoids containing entirely synthesized DNA. You can tell…
Bacteria boasts tiny genome, is codependent
Scientists have discovered a bacteria the survives with an incredibly small number of genes: The tiniest genomes ever found belong to two types of bacteria that live inside insects, researchers have announced. One of these types of bacteria, Carsonella ruddii, is so small that it could perhaps be…
First round of ill-informed objections to the first synthetic bacterium
I've been following the reaction to the synthesis of a new life form by the Venter lab with some interest and amusement. There have been a couple of common directions taken, and they're generally all wrong. This is not to say that there couldn't be valid concerns, but that the loudest complaining…

SWEET!

We were JUST talking about this in class!

I was soooo excited about this, I think Im *officially* the mad scientist of my class...

what does it mean by 'lab-made chemicals'?
how can you make restriction enzymes in the laboratory? has he synthetically synthesised DNA or has he simply used an existing 'natural' template and cut it down to get his 'artificial' chromosome?