real life neogen microorganisms

[FrodoGoofball]

Craig Venter creates synthetic life form

TED Video announcing synthetic cell.

My apologies if this or a similar article has been posted before.

This project has apparently succeeded in copying data from a computer file to a DNA strand, and implanting that data into a living microorganism.

One step closer to engenerator technology.

[stevebowers]

My daughter is a genetics student, and she's somewhat less impressed with this than I am. These synthetic organisms use pre-existing organisms to replicate artificially produced strands of DNA; without that pre-existing cell, the genome they had sequenced would just sit there doing nothing.

We are a long way from being able to design and build entirely new organisms from inorganic building blocks.. But I think it is a good start.

[Rynn]

The work the Venter group has done is impressive in it's technical development but synthia is just an organism that had its genome removed and replaced by one made in a lab. The one that was made was a copy of a genome found in nature so nothing as innovative as a truly synthetic organism.

Copying from nature is one thing, understanding how nature works and redesigning it for a different purpose is another thing entirely

[omega_tyrant]

Not actual neogenics, but still very impressive nonetheless. Science marches on!

Frodo, how does this relate to engenerator tech?

[stevebowers]

how does this relate to engenerator tech?

I've thought about this question myself recently, so if I might jump in here;
Engenerators create new humans (and other bionts) using hi-tech tissue printing and the transmitted DNA of the person concerned. However DNA cannot reproduce by itself - in order to make new cells the DNA needs to be embedded in a functioning artificial cell, containing ribosomes and other infracellular structures ( or some functional analog therof) which can use the DNA to produce new proteins and other material (and ultimately replicate the cell and the DNA). This aspect of engenerator tech is far beyond current synthetic biology, but I'm assuming it is ultimately doable.

[Rynn]

This is a world away from engenerator technology. That would require tissue engineering so sophisticated that entire (multicellular) organisms are created from non-living materials. This demonstrates it's possible to string together nucleotides "by hand" and replace the genetic material of a single called organism with it.