In the scientific community, Craig Venter is a celebrity. He’s a pioneer in the field of genomics and a successful businessman, running multiple companies at a time. Venter is responsible for the first, fully sequenced, human genome and also the first to create a cell with a completely synthetic genome. It was the Human Genome Project which first brought him to prominence. Venter was frustrated with the rate at which the human genome was being sequenced and, with the funds of a private company named Celera Corp., used a controversial method of sequencing called shotgun sequencing. The human genome was mapped in 2000, faster than the public genome programs by a full 3 years. But it wasn’t just the human genome which he was first to map; in 1995, Venter also sequenced the first bacterial genome, Haemophilus influenza (no, not the causal agent of influenza) at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). TIGR is now part of the J. Craig Venter Institute where Venter’s most significant work is taking place. Earlier this year, he led a team of scientists to create the first “synthetic life”.
The DNA from a Mycoplasma Capricolum cell was removed and viruses were used to insert a new bacterial genome into the cell. The new genome was differentiated from the original by adding watermarks. These watermarks had the cell’s website, 3 quotes, the name of the scientists involved in producing it, and the alphabet, all coded into it using DNA bases. Once the DNA was inserted, the cell, now called Mycoplasma Laboratorium, recognized the synthetic DNA as its own, continuing cell division and synthesizing proteins. The significance in this lies in the ability to tailor-make whole organisms, by choosing specific genes of interest which could be inserted into the organism to elicit certain functions. Some potential functions could involve the production of biofuels to be harvested as alternative fuels, or the even the reverse; the breaking down of compounds, such as fuels, used in cleaning up environmental disasters like the BP oil spill or sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to help fight global warming. The production of pharmaceuticals could be aided with these custom organisms by having organisms producing large amounts of drugs. This would lower production costs and raise percentage yield of a compound produced. Because it is so easy to buy DNA synthesizers (ie. off of ebay), anyone with the right tools and the right knowhow could make their own viruses, which could cause a large amount of injury or even death. The fact that there are DNA databases online (NCBI) providing full genomes and even individual gene sequences for free makes, it is even easier for someone to have access to potentially harmful genes. For now its mostly just the scientific community using these databases for research, but eventually screenings will need to be put into place to monitor who accesses what. The applications to these synthetic organisms are limitless and with the rate of advancements in biology, who knows how our lives may or may not be improved.
