Frankenstein’s Mycoplasma

There’s incredible news this week in biotechnology. Dan Gibson, a geneticist at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland (strong deeds, gentle words!), has announced that his team of researchers have succeeded in constructing the largest man-made DNA structure—at 582,970 base pairs in length, it’s over 20 times longer than the previous record! The artificial sequence was pieced together from four smaller (but still massive!) strands of DNA by utilizing the transcription power of yeast, and is precisely modeled on the genome of a bacterium known as Mycoplasma genitalium. With characteristic optimism, they’re now confident that they will be able to produce the very first man-made organism within the year. If they do that, the goal of biofuel production from cellulosic biomass will be within arm’s reach.¹

What does this mean? Imagine the end of fossil fuels: a cessation of ecologically devastating drilling operations, deflation of the political and economic power of neoconservative oil barons, and affordable, low-emission transportation, heating, and electricity. The impact of this technology is profound, and it doesn’t stop there. By discovering the details of biochemical and metabolic pathways, we can more closely mimic their elegance and efficiency to solve problems that plague industrial civilization. Maybe we’ll engineer a primitive, self-sustaining bio-robot that feeds on CO2 and excretes O2. Perhaps we could remove mercury from our water supplies. The limitations are not known, but the possibilities are awe-inspiring.

There has been some criticism of this work, notably by the Canadian-based ETC Group, a biotechnology watchdog organization. I agree with most of ETC Group’s principles (conserving agricultural biodiversity, fighting against patents for bioengineered plants). It is therefore fair to accuse me of wanting to have it both ways on this issue. I do see both sides, and I think that governments should regulate this kind of biotechnology. I am not worried about the J. Craig Venter Institute, which has demonstrated a responsible concern with ethics in this and previous projects. Venter himself shared the human genome’s raw code with the public for free after decoding it; his business aimed to make money by selling analytical services and bioinformatics software used for studying the genome. Others, however, are not nearly as scrupulous. I can’t say I endorse a moratorium at this point, but I do think that the USDA and Centers for Disease Control should be closely monitoring this type of research.

Still, this is exciting. You can expect me to post more on this topic in the future.

¹ Science Volume 315, No. 5813, 9 February 2007, pp. 801-804. Challenges in Engineering Microbes for Biofuels Production, by Gregory Stephanopoulos.