Synthetic Life -- or Synthetic Hysteria?
Raymond Tallis writes at Timesonline:
Craig Venter, the flamboyant US molecular biologist and entrepreneur, has been at it again. Not content with first-equal position in the race to give a complete description of the human genome, he has now announced that his team have created the world’s first synthetic life form. The editor of the journal Artificial Life has described this as “a defining moment in biology”. Dr Venter himself has claimed that his success has changed his “view of the definition of life and of how life works”.
Well, he would do, wouldn’t he? Before we get too excited, we should note that he has not actually “created artificial life”, as the headlines proclaim. He has synthesised DNA from basic chemicals; but lone DNA is not life. More, much more is needed. In this case, it was provided by an existing bacterium whose usual humble duty is to cause mastitis in goats. Into this the DNA was inserted. Yes, the resulting minute organism was new life but nearly all of that new life was taken off the shelf from nature.
