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2021年2月23日发(作者：肥狼来了)

Researchers Take Step Toward Synthetic Life

Published: Friday, January 25, 2008 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, January 26, 2008 at 3:57 a.m.

Taking

a

significant

step

toward

the

creation

of

synthetic

forms of life, researchers reported Thursday that they had

manufactured the entire genome of a bacterium by stitching

together its chemical components.

Scientists

had

previously

constructed

the

complete

DNA

of

viruses, but this is the first time it has been done for

bacteria, which

are far

more

complex.

The genome

is more than

10

times

as

long

as

the

longest

piece

of

DNA

ever

synthesized.

The feat is a watershed for the emerging field called

synthetic biology, which involves the design of organisms to

perform particular tasks, like making biofuels. Synthetic

biologists envision being able to design an organism on a

computer,

press

the

“print”

button

to

have

the

necessary

DNA

made

and

then

put

that

DNA

into

a

cell

to

produce

a

custom-made

creature.

“What

we

are

doing

with

the

synthetic

chromosome

is

going

to

be

the

design

process

of

the

future,”

said

J.

Craig

Venter,

the boundary-pushing gene scientist.

Dr. Venter assembled the team that made the bacterial

genome

as

part

of

his

well-publicized

quest

to

create

the

first

synthetic

organism.

The

work

was

published

online

Thursday

by

the journal Science.

But

there

are

concerns

that

synthetic

biology

could

be

used

to

make

pathogens,

or

that

errors

by

well-intended

scientists

could produce organisms that run amok. The genome of the

smallpox virus can in theory now be synthesized using the

techniques reported on Thursday since it is only about

one-

third

the

size

of

the

genome

manufactured

by

Dr.

Venter’s

group.

In

any

case,

there

are

many

hurdles

to

overcome

before

Dr.

Venter’s vision of “life by design” is realize

d. The

synthetic genome made by Dr. Venter’s team was not designed

from scratch, but

rather

was

a

copy, with

only

a

few

changes,

of the genetic sequence of a natural bacterium called

Mycoplasma genitalium(

生殖支原体

)

Moreover,

Dr.

Venter’s team, led

by a

Nobel

laureate

（得< /p>

主）

,

Hamilton

O.

Smith,

has

yet

to

accomplish

the

next

—

and

biggest

—

step. That would be to insert the synthetic

chromosome into a living microbe and have it “

boot up

” and

take control of the or

ganism’s functions.

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