In order to produce and assemble the world's first synthetic chromosome, the researchers first made sure they knew the complete base sequence of the bacterial chromosome they wanted to replicate. After that, the researchers designed segments of DNA that are produced by chemical methods
One of the lessons that left the strongest impression on me in the biology studies at the academy was the first lesson in genetic engineering. The professor entered the classroom, got on stage, and asked us all, "Why do you want to do genetic engineering?"
The question did surprise us, but we tried to answer with a variety of answers: it is good for humanity. Environmental problems can be solved with it. Genetic diseases can be cured with genetic engineering.
When we finished, he looked at us and said, “You're all wrong. The reason we engage in genetic engineering is the Promethean desire - to be like God and create creatures as we wish. This is the real reason for genetic engineering - and everything else is just a consequence."
I don't know if he was right or wrong, but there is no doubt that the research now taking place at the Craig-Ventor Institute is largely based on the Promethean desire. A team of 17 researchers at the institute created a complete genome of the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium, with a length of 582,970 bases. The work published in Science describes the completion of the second phase out of three main steps on the way to achieving the team's goal - to produce a completely synthetic bacterium. For this research team, the Promethean desire is something that is about to reach full fulfillment.
The researchers succeeded in the impressive technical task by chemically creating DNA strands in the laboratory and developing new methods for assembling and duplicating the DNA segments. After several years of tomorrow dedicated to perfecting the chemical methods for assembling DNA, the members of the group found that they could use the homologous recombination process (a process that cells use to repair damage in chromosomes) that takes place inside the cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using this process, the researchers assembled the complete bacterial chromosome from several large subunits.
We are already used to breakthroughs...
Although the progress is exciting, it seems that the institute's research group is already used to sensational breakthroughs. The group's previous major discovery was revealed less than a year ago, when the researchers managed to engineer a process of "genome transplant". With the help of the method they developed, they were able to transplant a chromosome from one species of bacteria into another. In this way, they turned the bacterium Mycoplasma capriculum into another bacterium called Mycoplasma mycoides, by replacing the genome of the first with the second.
Transplantation of a whole genome was the first step that proved that it is possible to think in terms of whole synthetic genomes, and that it is possible to insert chromosomes into living cells and activate them. Today's announcement about the successful synthesis of the complete genome marks the second step in the process, which will eventually lead to the implantation of a completely synthetic genome into a living cell and its activation.
How do you assemble a genome?
DNA is made up of four types of bases - adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. Although there are chemical methods to connect the bases to each other, the technology has not yet made it possible to produce complete chromosomes, which consist of hundreds of thousands of bases. As the DNA strands get longer, they also break more easily, and therefore are more difficult to work with. Until the current study, the largest segment of DNA synthesized in the laboratory contained only 32,000 base pairs. This is compared to the bacterial chromosome which contains approximately 580,000 base pairs.
In order to produce and assemble the world's first synthetic chromosome, the researchers first made sure they knew the complete base sequence of the bacterial chromosome they wanted to replicate. After that, the researchers designed segments of DNA produced by chemical methods, in order to build 101 "cassettes", each of which contained between 5000 and 7000 base pairs of DNA. In order to differentiate between the synthetic genome and the original genome, the researchers inserted identifying marks into the artificial genome. These markers are short segments that have been inserted into the genome, or have replaced existing segments, that do not naturally exist on the same chromosome.
From this point, the researchers used a five-step creation process, at the end of which the cassettes were merged and created larger and larger structures, until finally these structures were also combined to create the complete genome. In the first step, all four cassettes were joined to create 25 substructures, each of which is around 24,000 base pairs long. The segments were inserted into E. coli bacteria, which formed a kind of 'habitat' in a small way for the long DNA segments, and replicated an increasing amount of them. Thanks to the bacterial replication, the researchers were able to proceed to the next step with very large quantities of the 24,000 base segments. The researchers repeated the segment fusion step until they reached four segments with 144,000 bases. These segments were already too large for the E. coli to replicate.
In order to solve the problem, the researchers tried to use yeast cells as habitats for the huge fragments. They discovered that the yeast can handle the huge DNA molecules and even join them together with the help of the homologous recombination process. The researchers took advantage of the yeast's ability to connect the latest and largest cassettes, 144,000 bases long, to a colossal chromosome consisting of 580,000 base pairs. At the end of the process, the synthetic chromosome is tested to make sure it is the same as the sequence of bases present in the original chromosome.
The synthetic chromosome of said bacterium has a molecular weight of 360,110 kilodaltons. If the sequence of his bases were written down, with each base being a letter in a size 10 font, then a book with a length of 147 pages would have been created.
"This is an exciting advance for our group and the research field," says Dan Gibson, lead author of the paper. "We continue to work towards the final goal: to insert a synthetic chromosome into a cell, and make it create the first synthetic organism."
Why is it good?
Why do we actually need artificial bacteria?
Synthetic bacteria are based on the synthetic genome we insert into them. Today, at most it is possible to insert a plasmid - a short segment of DNA - into a bacterium, and in the best case, integrate it into its genome. Creating a synthetic genome from start to finish will allow us to create bacteria that will have any combination of features we want. They could be small or large, able to pass through blood vessels to heal cells, or live in polluted water basins and purify them. Such completely engineered bacteria could be carried on the wind currents and break down dangerous greenhouse gases into oxygen and water.
In the distant future, it is possible that such bacteria will be used as habitats for sophisticated DNA computers, which will be able to store huge amounts of memory and even use them to make extremely complex calculations. Such bacteria could even live in the human body and serve as tiny doctors, using the DNA computers that their genomes produce and manipulate to analyze and treat diseases that arise in the body.
Promethean desire may spur us on, but there is no doubt that its results speak for themselves. As long as we are careful in the path in which we walk, and do not commit the sin of hubris, we can harness the Promethean desire - the divine whim - for the advancement of man.
The source is on the Craig Venter Institute website
On the same topic on the science website
Prof. Doron Lantz - creating life in the laboratory within the next decade
20 תגובות
Roni,
thanks for the invitation. When you have real proofs of your belief, I would love to hear about them.
Nice weekend,
Roy.
A movement that wants to promote a quasi-religious idea is a cult, and not only the financial matter is the cause.
Second - if it was a new idea, you would be right. The problem is that this is an old idea - that there is something above us, and it doesn't matter if we call it God, an alien or anything else. I have no idea why aliens would want to deal with biotechnology issues more than being interested in other things on Earth. Why should they prefer humans over another species that endangers the planet less and one can still ask many questions.
In short, the idea of superior force is the problem, not the innovative wrapper you wrap it in.
PS Who finances your meetings?
I understand the difficulty in opening up to new ideas
I remind you of dark times
who brought into focus those who claimed that the earth is round
Or heaven forbid, revolves around the sun
In any case, I still invite you to the meeting on Saturday
And I hope that you are curious to know thinking from a different angle.
Roni
The movement and not the religious "sect".
(In contrast to the "cult", the first value with us is to act according to personal conscience, and there is no entity that can order us to do something that is against our conscience, not a leader, not Rael, not even God. The Rael movement is a non-profit association
There is no income and everyone, including Ral, volunteers for the purpose of conveying a message
Special for the sake of all humanity.
To Ronnie
Did you know that the reverse of the word GOD is DOG, does it have a meaning?
Instead of talking about all kinds of nonsense, I would suggest you show us a piece of alien technology or at least bring one of your alien friends to a TV station for all of humanity to see.
Your stories are no better than the stories of Hans Christian Andersen or the Brothers Grimm
Very dangerous progress…
I'm sure I'm not the first to raise the possibility of creating a biological weapon as you requested... it would be possible to create such a biological weapon that it would be impossible to predict its action and its spread and in the end it would be impossible to stop it
Roni,
Thank you for the piece of anthropology you brought here. I have no doubt that the Haralim cult can be an excellent object for fascinating sociological and psychological research.
As you say, the leaders of countries are indeed not to be trusted, but only the leaders of cults who push women into dangerous and uncontrolled medical procedures.
Roni:
My only "sacred cow" is the truth and the rales do butcher it.
I will not come to her sacrifice ceremony.
I also did not expect you to take my words seriously (and indeed you met my expectations)
To Michael and R. H. Shalom
A- Michael in connection with the sentence "One Lord and one name"
which is syntactically incorrect since the word lord is
The word is plural and in Hebrew it means my lords.
In the original it is written "Jehovah is one and his name is one", because Jehovah
is the planet president of the god group.
God is equivalent to the concept of the IDF, police, etc
which are a body that expresses a group of policemen or policemen
Because I understand that the rales are slaughtering sacred cows
I invite you as a guest of honor to our next meeting which will be held in Tel Aviv this Saturday at 11:30 am
2- In response to R. H. I wonder why God chose to meet with a people
A man stammers in the name of Moses to convey his messages
And so for the other prophets and representatives of religions
The short answer is distrust in all those leaders
And choosing one or another leader will be interpreted as choosing a side
The goal is to convey the messages to the whole world out of respect
For a person to choose his own path.
and not by the exercise of malice by this or that leader,
who must be surrounded by countries hostile to his way and culture.
My name is Roni 050-7307294
I also wonder why those Gods have to meet with some weirdo in the mouth of a volcano? What is impossible with the presidents of the US, the European Union and the representatives of the UN in prime time on CNN?
A few years ago, the Haralim Sect's blasphemy also included the claim that they themselves duplicated a person and that this person (a girl) is in Israel.
On their website you could also read about the terrible massacre of 5000 innocent people by Israel in Jenin.
In short - they and reality are not such good friends.
There is not much point in debating with whom the expression "and God said let there be light" takes only the suffix of God as a plural expression and ignores the "and said" which is said in the singular (and of all religious commandments including "one Lord and one name" which according to what you read above was entrusted to us on By the hands of the Jews who also took pains, in order to educate us, to plant among us religions that are hostile to each other to the point of mutual annihilation)
Scientists from another planet created all types of life on Earth using DNA-based technology.
We find traces of this epic masterpiece in all the religious writings. They meant Moses, Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad. Now is the time to welcome them..
What happened?
On December 13, 1973, a French journalist named Claude Varion met a visitor from another planet, inside the crater of an extinct volcano in southern France. He entrusted a message intended for all of humanity and asked him to establish an embassy to welcome those people upon their return to Earth.
The height of that visitor was about 1.22 m, his hair was long black, his eyes were almond-shaped, his skin was white with an olive tint and his gaze radiated harmony and humor. Recently, Rall described him simply by saying, "If this man walked down the street in Japan, he wouldn't stand out at all." In other words, they look like us and we look like them, in fact, we were created "in their image and likeness" as described in Genesis chapter 26 verse XNUMX.
He told Rael that:
"We are the ones who created all life forms on Earth. "
"You were wrong when you thought we were gods,"
"We are the source of your great religions. "
"Now that you are mature enough to understand this, we would like to contact you officially through an embassy."
The messages
The dictated messages explained that life on earth is not the result of random evolution and not the handiwork of a supernatural "god". This is intentional creation, using genetic engineering techniques by scientifically advanced people who created humans "in their own image and likeness" - literally. What can be called scientific health. Mentions and references to these scientists and their work as well as their symbol, the infinity symbol, can be found in ancient texts of many cultures. For example, in the book of Genesis, in the biblical description of creation, the word "God" was mistakenly translated into the singular word "God", but the word God is plural and means in ancient Hebrew "those who came from heaven." And in the singular "God" (also known as Allah). Many cultures around the world remember these gods who came from the sky, among them: primitive cultures from Africa (the Dogons, the Tawa, etc.), from America, Asia, Australia and Europe.
Although God allowed the humanity they created to develop on their own, they maintained contact with us through the prophets among them: Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and Buddha, all of whom were chosen in advance and even trained by them. The role of these prophets was to gradually educate humanity by messages they received and passed on. Each message was adapted to the local culture and the level of understanding of the people of the time. Their role was also to leave written evidence so that when the time comes we can recognize God as our creator and understand that they are human beings like us. All this when we reach a scientific level required to understand. Jesus, whose father was God, was given the important task of spreading these messages throughout the world, in preparation for the crucial period in which we have the privilege of living today: the period that was predicted in advance, the period of revelation.
And most importantly, read the book "The Truth About God", the book that will revolutionize your thinking, change your life, and which is already changing the world.
Dan,
I will refer you to a guy named 'DeGrey', who claims that a road map for delaying aging needs to be planned, and has already invented such a preliminary map.
If I had to go by his map, I would estimate that we could arrive at initial solutions to the problems he presents there within twenty to thirty years.
And yet, the prophecy was given to fools. In fact, anything can happen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey_de_Grey
Good Day,
Roy.
In the matter of Promethean desire,
Does anyone have an estimate of what the chances are of adding another 200-300 years to myself?
(And yes, I know what the fate of KA will be if such technology becomes available).
Has anyone seen the movie I am a legend??? That's exactly it, only that many things on the way can be missed 🙂
The leap from synthesizing DNA, which is a relatively simple thing even when it comes to an entire chromosome, to wrapping it in a membrane that includes all the essential proteins, sugars and artificial fats is huge and is the real problem in my opinion. I wonder if they can do it.
Another point for the motivation to build an artificial cell is the question of the existence of the soul. Is a living cell a machine or is there something else beyond that that turns it from inanimate to living.
People who tell us they know what our hidden passions are are probably charlatans and not scientists.
Hello Ron,
Let me tell you a different story.
This is the story of a small planet that is getting filled with people. Within a few decades, it will no longer have enough resources to feed everyone, and people will start dying of hunger, air and water pollution, and lack of space.
And this is the story about smart people, who thought of all this in advance. And to prevent this situation, they developed bacteria that are able to clean the air pollution, create food and turn toxins into water and carbon. These developments allowed humanity to continue living at a high technological level for a few more decades - just enough time to reach the planet Mars, and spread bacteria designed to turn it into an Earth-like planet in a shockingly short period of decades.
Each one - and his own story.
i am legendary
"And thus man destroyed himself," the old teacher told his young students about the planet Proxima in the Centauri star system.
The foolish man, in his learned games, accidentally created a kind of deadly artificial bacterium like no other, against which there was no possibility of inoculation.
This bacterium killed without any serious opposition, within a short period of time, the entire human population on planet Earth.