Science：第一个人造生命可能在数月后问世
生物谷援引：据英国《每日电讯报》报道，科学家可能在数月后制造出第一个人造生命。日前，科学家们已经成功将一种细菌植入到另外一种细菌中，取得跨时代的突破。
在漫长的研究过程中，科学家们首先得到一种细菌细胞的染色体组，将其植入到一种近亲细菌中，随后被植入的染色体组开始复制生长，最终将长成一个新的细菌。
执行首次“染色体移植”项目的科学小组成员表示，他们计划在几个月后将一个人造的染色体组进行类似的试验，实现科研史上零的突破。如果试验成功，这将创造出一种人造生命的形式。
与此同时，科学家还希望能制造出新的细菌种类，充当绿色能源以替代石油和煤、分解有毒废物、吸收二氧化碳气体和大气中其他温室气体。
但是事情往往具有双面性。这种开创性的研究也引起科学界的疑虑，有科学家担心，也许有一天这项技术被用作制造新一代生化武器的用途。
这项研究是由美国奎格文特研究所(J. Craig Venter Institute)承担的。该研究成果发表在今日出版的Science杂志。
原始出处:
Published Online June 28, 2007
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1144622
Submitted on May 3, 2007
Accepted on June 21, 2007
Genome Transplantation in Bacteria: Changing One Species to Another
Carole Lartigue 1, John I. Glass 1*, Nina Alperovich 1, Rembert Pieper 1, Prashanth P. Parmar 1, Clyde A. Hutchison III 1, Hamilton O. Smith 1, J. Craig Venter 1
1 The J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
John I. Glass , E-mail: Jglass@jcvi.org
As a step toward propagation of synthetic genomes, we completely replaced the genome of a bacterial cell with one from another species by transplanting a whole genome as naked DNA. Intact genomic DNA from Mycoplasma mycoides large colony (LC), virtually free of protein, was transplanted into Mycoplasma capricolum cells by polyethylene glycol-mediated transformation. Cells selected for tetracycline resistance, carried by the M. mycoides LC chromosome, contain the complete donor genome and are free of detectable recipient genomic sequences. These cells that result from genome transplantation are phenotypically identical to the M. mycoides LC donor strain as judged by several criteria. 相关报道:
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