Scientists
reported Wednesday that they had taken a significant step toward altering the
fundamental alphabet of life — creating an organism with an expanded artificial
genetic code in its DNA.
The
accomplishment might eventually lead to organisms that can make medicines or
industrial products that cells with only the natural genetic code cannot.
The
scientists behind the work at the Scripps Research Institute have already
formed a company to try to use the technique to develop new antibiotics,
vaccines and other products, though a lot more work needs to be done before
this is practical.
The
work also gives some support to the concept that life can exist elsewhere in
the universe using genetics different from those on Earth.
“This
is the first time that you have had a living cell manage an alien
genetic alphabet,” said Steven A. Benner, a researcher in the field at the
Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Fla., who was not
involved in the new work.
But
the research, published online by the journal Nature, is bound to raise safety
concerns and questions about whether humans are playing God. The new paper
could intensify calls for greater regulation of the budding field known as synthetic biology, which involves the
creation of biological systems intended for specific purposes.
“The
arrival of this unprecedented ‘alien’ life form could in time have far-reaching
ethical, legal and regulatory implications,” Jim Thomas of the ETC Group, a
Canadian advocacy organization, said in an email. “While synthetic biologists
invent new ways to monkey with the fundamentals of life, governments haven’t
even been able to cobble together the basics of oversight, assessment or
regulation for this surging field.”
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