Scientists working to build a life form from scratch have applied to patent the broad method they plan to use to create their "synthetic organism". Dr Craig Venter, the man who led the private sector effort to sequence the human genome, has been working for years to create a man-made organism. But constructing a primitive microbe from a kit of genes is a daunting task. Dr Venter says, eventually, these life forms could be designed to make biofuels and absorb greenhouse gases. The publication of the patent application has angered some environmentalists. The Canada-based ETC group, which monitors developments in biotechnology, called on patent offices to reject applications on synthetic life forms. The J Craig Venter Institute's US patent application claims exclusive ownership of a set of essential genes and a synthetic "free-living organism that can grow and replicate" made using those genes. It has also filed an international application at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) which names more than 100 countries where the institute may seek monopoly patents. Dr Venter's team intends to construct an organism with a "minimal genome" that can then be inserted into the shell of a bacterium.

By removing genes, one by one, from a bacterium called Mycoplasma genitalium they identified the minimum number of genes required for this particular organism to replicate, or reproduce, in its controlled environment. They have been able to remove 101 of its 482 genes without killing the bacterium, meaning that 381 were required for replication. But generating a man-made living organism from the bottom up requires much more than just its minimal genome.

View: Full Article | Source: BBC News

That's a good thing indeed. When i think of ways to help the environment i always think about technology but never biology. They should get the funding so they can save Earths atmosphere that's going to be in really bad shape in the upcomming years if nothing is done.

I'm somewhat surprised no crazy God folk have disputed this. Anything that opposes God in some way just gets in their way






And this is great. I hope they get the funding. That way we can save the Earth and still use fossil fuels because finding other sources just isn't working out well for the big ass country that needs it most :/

They should go ahead but not get the patent. Imagine if a living thing were patented? What is the world coming to? If the organism ever became 'aware' it would be like a slave to its owners that 'own' the patent...

Why are we trying to play GOD to sort out the problems we have created instead of trying to sort them out ourselves????

I do hope you were just humoring me.



I'd rather you idiots not complain and let them save the planet if they're able to. You can't play God and think it to be morally wrong unless you actually believe in God.

And the organisms they want to make are just like organisms that are currently on the planet. We're just "mutating" it in a way to help ourselves.

Get over it



Save Earth > God


Leave your God talk for AFTER you die.

Based on the article, the patent applies to a broad method for creating a synthetic organism, not the organism itself, though I'm sure they'd be seeking a patent for it if they'd created one, just as Monsanto is trying to patent it's definition of a pig at the expense of all previously existing pigs and pig breeders.

But though it takes a major investment of funds to reach such an achievement, is saving the planet (if not killing it) best served by allowing exclusive legal dominion over a form of life, which is what we all possess and are? A synthetic life will still be based on life already in existence. Earth and nature has that patent.

In a possibly far fetched, possibly just around the corner, but similarly principled scenario, imagine having to pay a license fee for the right to breed a human, one of your own, because a company of scientists and business people were allowed to a patent a definition or application of humanity that coincided even partially with the original.

That's what Monsanto has sought with plant life and is trying to do with the pig. Total control of the food supply is the eventual aim. How about total commercial control of life? Think of the profitability.

That is, just as you said, far fetched. A patent that would require humans to pay to breed could never be passed. EVER. Why? Because...it just wont be. There are humans that go through the process of accepting the patents.

It's a wee bitty Frankenstein isn't it, the notion of creating life from scratch.

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

I'm all for saving the planet, but they can already alter single cell organisms to process greenhouse gases, eat spilt petroleum products and munch up radioactive materials. They don't need to build a new animal to do that.

I'm with Star_girl that allowing a patent and total ownership of an organism will lead to really tough legal problems down the road. It should be enough for them to own the process of altering the organism.

Yay Yay. someone sees my point of view!

Oh Sadonis, I just thought I would give you something to get all fired up about. Sorry but I couldn't resist!

"I'd rather you idiots not complain and let them save the planet if they're able to. You can't play God and think it to be morally wrong unless you actually believe in God." - Sadonis Quick comment on that statement. Even if you don't believe in GOD you have to admit that the ecosystem and Earth as a whole function as a result of a delicate balance (foodchains etc...) so you have to be a bit worried about developing a "new" organism to fit into that equation without it taking over the natural processes... (Kinda like what the various colonists did when they introduced animals and plants for short term solutions and now they have become invader species...)

Star

I am all for this!!! But for different reasons. For years we have been going down the path with computers of faster and smaller hardware. I always thought we need to step back and see about making a bio computer. Yes that is right a living and breathing computer. If you could do this you could make all kinds of living breathing things. It would change the world. Like a chair that sees you walk up to a table and walks over to you so that you could sit on him. A lamp that turned on when it woke up. What a strange and wonderful place it would be.

If anyone seen the show “Tin Man” on Star Trek they would know some of what I am talking about. But I would like to see it more on a personal level. With living furniture and house hold items. Sure you might have to stop the coffee table from humping the foot stool, and there is a chance that your stove would run off or your computer trying to buy itself a mate. But it would make life so much more interesting.

Doesn't really sound like anything new to me. Genetic Engineering or Bio-Enginering, I'm sure it will fall into one of those categories or something similar. They just want to patent the procedure it looks like. I believe Environmentalists will jump on this before the "God Folk" will lol. Mainly because as Star_girl said about the invader species situation. I believe in God and will see this as a step forward if we are able to "engineer" a new organism. However, I do see where you are coming from, there are some of us "folk" that will disagree to put it lightly.

Just wait for it!