EK
3D Printed Cell Technique Allows Material To Mimic Human-Like Tissue
A team of chemists has found a way to print 3D material that resembles living tissue.-The scientists developed a 3D printer that squeezes out tiny water droplets into a drop of oil, creating miniature spheres with a lipid bilayer that mimics the membranes of living cells. They deposited these droplets in layers to create a material that can bend like muscle or communicate like neurons, as reported today (April 4) in the journal Science.–“We’ve made a new kind of material. Not just a new material, but really a whole class of materials,” said study co-author Gabriel Villar, a chemist at the University of Oxford, in England. In principle, these materials could be used to mimic any kind of living tissue[F1], Villar told LiveScience.–The material consists of tens of thousands of water droplets separated by a thin membrane called a lipid bilayer, the same membrane that encapsulates living cells and keeps everything from spilling out. These bilayers consist of an oily, water-resistant layer sandwiched between two water-friendly layers.–Previous experiments have assembled droplets into lipid bilayers, but the droplets were either made by hand, or were made using techniques that couldn’t control the movement of individual droplets.-Villar and colleagues have developed a 3D printer that could produce these droplets automatically. The printer uses a very thin glass nozzle to create droplets that are about 50 microns across (roughly half the width of a human hair). The printer squeezed the droplets into an oily solution that spontaneously coated each droplet in a lipid bilayer.–Next, the team showed how the printed material could be used to perform some of the functions of living tissue. For example, they printed a network of droplets that could transmit signals like tissues in the nervous system (albeit on a much simpler level). Neurons conduct electrical pulses along cell membranes by letting charged particles called ions pass through them. To mimic this, the researchers added a protein made by bacteria to some of the droplets, which cuts holes in lipid bilayers akin to a “cookie cutter,” Villar said. An electrical current applied to the material passed through these holes much like a nerve impulse.–But the scientists didn’t stop there. They used their printer to make self-folding structures, like flattened flower whose petals folded up. [See Video of Self-folding Droplets in Action]–The folding was a completely passive process that relied on the movement of water between droplets. The researchers added salt to some of the lipid-enclosed droplets, which created a salt gradient with nearby droplets. Water naturally moved from the droplets with no salt to those with salt, causing the salty droplets to swell. As a result, the flat petals curled up to form a hollow ball. The material was lifting itself against gravity, much like muscle tissue.–Ultimately, these 3D-printed materials could be used to deliver medicine or replace damaged tissue itself, the researchers said.
“This is an exciting new development in 3D printing using synthetic mimics of cells,” said biomedical engineer Will Shu of Heriot-Watt University in the U.K., who was not involved in the study. “It is not hard to imagine this approach could be integrated for living organisms and the potential applications would be enormous.”
****************************************************************************
Biomimetic Technologies Project Will Create First Soft-Bodied Robots
January 25th, 2007 in Technology / Engineering
A group of researchers at Tufts University has launched a multidisciplinary initiative focused on the science and engineering of a new class of robots that are completely soft-bodied. These devices will make possible advances in such far flung arenas as medicine and space exploration. Barry Trimmer, professor of biology, and David Kaplan, professor of biomedical engineering, are co-directors of the Biomimetic Technologies for Soft-bodied Robots project, which represents a consortium of seven Tufts faculty members from five departments in the School of Engineering and the School of Arts and Sciences. The project has just been awarded a grant of $730,000 from the W.M. Keck Foundation.–According to Kaplan, the project will bring together biology, bioengineering and micro/nano fabrication. “Our overall goal is to develop systems and devices–soft-bodied robots–based on biological materials and on the adaptive mechanisms found in living cells, tissues and whole organisms,” he explains. These devices, he notes, will have direct applications in robotics, such as manufacturing, emergency search and retrieval, and repair and maintenance of equipment in space; in medical diagnosis and treatment, including endoscopy, remote surgery, and prostheses design; and in novel electronics such as soft circuits and power supplies.–“A major characteristic that distinguishes man-made structures from biological ones is the preponderance of stiff materials,” explains Trimmer. “In contrast, living systems may contain stiff materials such as bone and cuticle but their fundamental building blocks are soft and elastic. This distinction between biological and man-made objects is so pervasive that our evaluation of artificial or living structures is often made on the basis of the materials alone. Many machines incorporate flexible materials at their joints and can be tremendously fast, strong and powerful, but there is no current technology that can match the performance of an animal moving through natural terrain.”
First “Molecules to Robots” Effort
The Tufts team represents the first major effort to design a truly soft-bodied locomoting robot with the workspace capabilities similar to those of a living animal. While other groups around the world are applying biomimetic approaches to engineering design, most focus on narrow areas within this field. –“This represents a wonderfully rich and novel collaboration that takes a comprehensive ‘molecules to robots’ approach to the use of soft materials,” notes Linda M. Abriola, dean of the Tufts School of Engineering.
Work will focus on four primary areas: Control systems for soft-bodied robots, biomimetic and bionic materials, robot design and construction, and development and application of research-based platform technologies. [F2]
Caterpillars and Silkworms
The Keck grant will provide the team with specialized equipment for use with soft materials and biomechanics experiments, according to Trimmer, whose work with caterpillars provides insights on how to build the world’s first soft-bodied robot. Trimmer, a neurobiologist, has been studying the nervous system and biology since 1990 through grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. His goal has been to better understand how the creatures can control their fluid movements using a simple brain and how they can move so flexibly without any joints. He hopes to adapt his caterpillar research to this new project using the expertise of Tufts engineers.
Kaplan, whose laboratory focuses on biopolymer engineering, has already uncovered the secret of how spiders and silkworms are able to spin webs and cocoons made of incredibly strong yet flexible fibers. More recently, his team applied genetic engineering and nanotechnology to create a “fusion protein” that for the first time combined the toughness of spider silk with the intricate structure of silica. Kaplan notes that there has been tremendous progress in the development and use of soft materials in devices ranging from keyboards to toys. “However, it is very hard to make soft devices that move around and can be precisely controlled,” he says. “This is the fundamental reason why robots currently move like robots instead of lifelike animals.” –The new robots developed at Tufts will be continuously deformable and capable of collapsing and crumpling into small volumes. They will have capabilities that are not currently available in single machines including climbing textured surfaces and irregular objects, crawling along ropes and wires, or burrowing into complex confined spaces[F3]. “Soft-bodied robots could make many dangerous surgeries much safer and less painful,” Trimmer adds. “They could also be used by NASA to repair space stations by reaching places that astronauts can’t, perform more complicated tasks in industry that require flexibility of movement, help in hazardous environments like nuclear reactors and landmine detection, and squeeze more efficiently into tight spaces.”–In addition to Trimmer and Kaplan, Assistant Professors Robert White, mechanical engineering, and Sameer Sonkusale, electrical and computer engineering, will supervise projects in the Tufts Microfabrication Laboratory. Associate Professor Luis Dorfmann, civil and environmental engineering, and Visiting Assistant Professor Gary Leisk, mechanical engineering, will supervise the material testing and modeling parts of the project, and Assistant Professor Valencia Joyner, electrical and computer engineering and Sonkusale will direct the design and production of sensors and soft material integrated circuits.
Source: Tufts University
*******************************************************************************************************************************************
World’s first artificial enzymes created using synthetic biology –
Xeno nucleic acid (XNA) is a synthetic alternative to the natural nucleic acids DNA and RNA as information-storing biopolymers that differs in the sugar backbone.[1] As of 2011, at least six types of synthetic sugars have been shown to form nucleic acid backbones that can store and retrieve genetic information. Research is now being done to create synthetic polymerases to transform XNA. The study of its production and application has created a field known as xenobiology.–Although the genetic information is still stored in the four canonical base pairs (unlike other nucleic acid analogues), natural DNA polymerases cannot read and duplicate this information. Thus the genetic information stored in XNA is “invisible” and therefore useless to natural DNA-based organisms.[2]
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/worlds-first-artificial-enzymes-created-using-synthetic-biology#sthash.Hi3SOWu0.dpuf
Enzymes made from artificial molecules which do not occur anywhere in nature have been shown to trigger chemical reactions in the lab, challenging existing views about the conditions that are needed to enable life to happen.–Our assumptions about what is required for biological processes – the ‘secret of life’ – may need some further revision
Alex Taylor –A team of researchers have created the world’s first enzymes made from artificial genetic material.-The synthetic enzymes, which are made from molecules that do not occur anywhere in nature, are capable of triggering chemical reactions in the lab.–The research is published in the journal Nature and promises to offer new insights into the origins of life, as well as providing a potential starting point for an entirely new generation of drugs and diagnostics.[F1] In addition, the authors speculate that the study increases the range of planets that could potentially host life.–All life on Earth depends on the chemical transformations that enable cellular function and the performance of basic tasks, from digesting food to making DNA. These are powered by naturally-occurring enzymes which operate as catalysts, kick-starting the process and enabling such reactions to happen at the necessary rate.–For the first time, however, the research shows that these natural biomolecules may not be the only option, and that artificial enzymes could also be used to power the reactions that enable life to occur.–The findings build on previous work in which the scientists, from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge and the University of Cambridge, created synthetic molecules called “XNAs”. These are entirely artificial genetic systems that can store and pass on genetic information in a manner similar to DNA.
Using these XNAs as building blocks, the new research involved the creation of so-called “XNAzymes”. Like naturally occurring enzymes, these are capable of powering simple biochemical reactions.–Dr Alex Taylor, a Post-doctoral Researcher at St John’s College, University of Cambridge, who is based at the MRC Laboratory and was the study’s lead author, said: “The chemical building blocks that we used in this study are not naturally-occurring on Earth[F2], and must be synthesised in the lab. This research shows us that our assumptions about what is required for biological processes – the ‘secret of life’ – may need some further revision. The results imply that our chemistry, of DNA, RNA and proteins, may not be special and that there may be a vast range of alternative chemistries that could make life possible.–Every one of our cells contains thousands of different enzymes, many of which are proteins. In addition, however, nucleic acids – DNA and its close chemical cousin, RNA – can also form enzymes. The ribosome, the molecular machine which manufactures proteins within all cells, is an RNA enzyme. Life itself is widely thought to have begun with the emergence of a self-copying RNA enzyme.–Dr Philipp Holliger, from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, said: “Until recently it was thought that DNA and RNA were the only molecules that could store genetic information and, together with proteins, the only biomolecules able to form enzymes.”“Our work suggests that, in principle, there are a number of possible alternatives to nature’s molecules that will support the catalytic processes required for life. Life’s ‘choice’ of RNA and DNA may just be an accident of prehistoric chemistry.”“The creation of synthetic DNA, and now enzymes, from building blocks that don’t exist in nature also raises the possibility that if there is life on other planets it may have sprung up from an entirely different set of molecules, and widens the possible number of planets that might be able to host life.”–The group’s previous study, carried out in 2012, showed that six alternative molecules, called XNAs, could store genetic information and evolve through natural selection. Expanding on that principle, the new research identified, for the first time, four different types of synthetic catalyst formed from these entirely unnatural building blocks.-These XNAzymes are capable of catalysing simple reactions, like cutting and joining strands of RNA in a test tube. One of the XNAzymes can even join strands together, which represents one of the first steps towards creating a living system.[F3] Because their XNAzymes are much more stable than naturally occurring enzymes, the scientists believe that they could be particularly useful in developing new therapies for a range of diseases, including cancers and viral infections, which exploit the body’s natural processes.—Dr Holliger added: “Our XNAs are chemically extremely robust and, because they do not occur in nature, they are not recognised by the body’s natural degrading enzymes[F4]. This might make them an attractive candidate for long-lasting treatments that can disrupt disease-related RNAs.”—Professor Patrick Maxwell, Chair of the MRC’s Molecular and Cellular Medicine Board and Regius Professor of Physic at the University of Cambridge, said: “Synthetic biology is delivering some truly amazing advances that promise to change the way we understand and treat disease. The UK excels in this field, and this latest advance offers the tantalising prospect of using designer biological parts as a starting point for an entirely new class of therapies and diagnostic tools that are more effective and have a longer shelf-life.”-Funders of the research included the MRC, European Science Foundation and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page. For image rights, please see the credits associated with each individual image.- See more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/worlds-first-artificial-enzymes-created-using-synthetic-biology#sthash.Hi3SOWu0.dpuf
******************************************************************
Breakthrough in synthetic enzymes could lead to the manufacture of organisms
Synthetic form of DNA, called XNA, is capable of editing genetic material
XNA triggered reactions thought to be crucial for life first starting on Earth
Scientists suggest alien life could have evolved using XNA instead of DNA
Artificial molecules could also be used to create synthetic life in the lab
Researchers believe XNA may lead to a new ways of treating cancers
The world’s first enzymes made from artificial genetic material have been created by scientists in what could be a major step towards generating synthetic life.-The enzymes, which do not occur naturally, were created using a synthetic form of DNA called XNA and were capable of triggering chemical reactions in the lab.-The findings build on previous work that showed six types of XNA molecules were capable of storing and transmitting genetic information in the same way as DNA and RNA.-It had been previously thought that DNA and RNA, which form the basis for all life on Earth, were the only way of storing genetic material.-But now the latest research by synthetic biologists in Cambridge shows that this synthetic genetic material is also capable of performing another crucial biological role – catalysing biochemical reactions that are essential for life.-Using their lab-made XNAs as building blocks, the team were able to create synthetic enzymes, which they have named ‘XNAzymes’, that could cut up and stitch together small chunks of genetic material, just like naturally occurring enzymes.-The suggests that such molecules could be used to replicate some of the earliest steps needed to produce life itself and may even provide clues about what life on other planets may be like.-It is thought that life first began with the evolution of a segment of RNA that was able to copy itself and catalyse reactions. If XNA is also capable of this, then it could also have led to different forms of life on other planets or could be used to create new synthetic forms of life. However, Dr Philipp Holliger, who led the research at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, said: ‘Our work suggests that, in principle, there are a number of possible alternatives to nature’s molecules that will support the catalytic processes required for life.-‘Until recently, it was thought that DNA and RNA were the only molecules that could store genetic information and, together with proteins, the only biomolecules able to form enzymes.-‘Life’s ‘choice’ of RNA and DNA may just be an accident of prehistoric chemistry.–‘The creation of synthetic DNA, and now enzymes, from building blocks that don’t exist in nature also raises the possibility that if there is life on other planets it may have sprung up from an entirely different set of molecules, and widens the possible number of planets that might be able to host life.’-In 2012 Dr Holliger’s group showed that there were six alternative molecules to the oligonucleotides that form RNA and DNA, which they called XNAs.–They demonstrated that these could store information and could even evolve through natural[F5] selection.-In their latest research, which is published in the journal Nature, the team created four different types of synthetic enzyme from strands of XNA.–These XNAzymes were able to perform the role of a polymerase – an enzyme that cuts and joins RNA strands together – in a test tube. One of the XNAzymes they created was also able to join XNA strands together to form longer molecules – a key step towards creating a living system that can replicate itself.–[F6]Although it will still be some time before these can be used to create living synthetic organisms, Dr Holliger believes that XNAzymes could also be useful for developing new therapies for range of diseases including cancers and some viral infections.[F7]-Dr Holliger added: ‘Our XNAs are chemically extremely robust and, because they do not occur in nature, they are not recognised by the body’s natural degrading enzymes.-[F8]‘This might make them an attractive candidate for long-lasting treatments that can disrupt disease-related RNAs.’Professor Patrick Maxwell, chair of the MRC’s Molecular and Cellular Medicine Board, said the work could kick start an entirely new branch of medicine.One of the XNA molecules created at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge which was capable of joining two strands of XNA together
The XNAzymes created by the scientists were also able to cut up strands of RNA, another crucial biochemical reaction that is thought to have been fundamental in kick starting life on Earth
Two of the XNA enzymes created by the scientists at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, which were able to join two strands of XNA together (left) and cut up strands of RNA (right)-Life on other planets outside our own solar system, like this exoplanet, could have evolved from XNA rather than RNA, which could have led to very different forms of life to those we are familiar with here on Earth–He said: ‘Synthetic biology is delivering some truly amazing advances that promise to change the way we understand and treat disease.[F9] ‘This latest advance offers the tantalising prospect of using designer biological parts as a starting point for an entirely new class of therapies and diagnostic tools that are more effective and have a longer shelf-life.’-Professor Jack Szostak, a Nobel prize winner at Harvard University who studies the origins of life, added that the research raises some fundamental questions about what life on other planets may be like.He told New Scientist: ‘The possibility that life elsewhere, on exoplanets, could have started with something other than RNA or DNA is quite interesting. ‘But the primordial biopolymer for any form of life must satisfy other constraints as well, such as being something that can be generated by prebiotic chemistry and replicated efficiently.-‘Whether XNA can satisfy these constraints, as well as providing useful functions, remains an open question.’
**********************************************************************
Synthetic enzymes hint at life without DNA or RNA
17:35 01 December 2014 by Andy Coghlan
For similar stories, visit the Genetics Topic Guide
Life might not have to be based on DNA or RNA
Enzymes that don’t exist in nature have been made from genetic material that doesn’t exist in nature either, called XNA, or xeno nucleic acid.–It’s the first time this has been done and the results reinforce the possibility that life could evolve without DNA or RNA, the two self-replicating molecules considered indispensible for life on Earth.–“Our work with XNA shows that there’s no fundamental imperative for RNA and DNA to be prerequisites for life,” says Philipp Holliger of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, the same laboratory where the structure of DNA was discovered in 1953 by Francis Crick and James Watson.
It’s not all about the base–
Holliger’s team has made XNAs before. Their unnatural XNA contains the same bases – adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine and uracil – on which DNA and RNA rely for coding hereditary information. What’s different is the sugar to which each base is attached.–In DNA and RNA, the sugars are deoxyribose and ribose, respectively. Holliger made new types of genetic material by replacing these with different sugars or other molecules.–Now, they have taken a step closer to mimicking early life on the planet by showing that XNAs can also serve as enzymes – indispensible catalysts for speeding up chemical reactions vital for life.–One of the first steps towards life on Earth is thought to be the evolution of RNA into self-copying enzymes.
Big steps
So by showing that XNAs can act as enzymes, on top of being able to store hereditary information, Holliger has recreated a second major step towards life.–The XNA enzymes can’t yet copy themselves but they can cut and paste RNA, just like natural enzymes do, and even paste together fragments of XNA.–It’s the first demonstration that, like prehistoric RNA, XNA can catalyse reactions on itself, even if it can’t yet copy itself as RNA can.–Holliger argues that RNA and DNA may have come to dominate Earth by chance, simply because they were the best evolutionary materials to hand. “You could speculate that on other planets, XNAs would dominate instead,” he says.
Primal molecules
“This work is another nice step towards demonstrating the functional capabilities of XNAs,” says Nobel prizewinner Jack Szostak of Harvard University, who studies the origins of life on Earth .–“The possibility that life elsewhere, on exoplanets, could have started with something other than RNA or DNA is quite interesting, but the primordial biopolymer for any form of life must satisfy other constraints as well, such as being something that can be generated by prebiotic chemistry and replicated efficiently,” Szostak says. “Whether XNA can satisfy these constraints, as well as providing useful functions, remains an open question.”
Holliger says that XNAs may also have roles to play in medicine. Because they do not occur naturally, they can’t be broken down in the human body. And since they can be designed to break and destroy RNA, they could work as drugs for treating RNA viruses or disabling RNA messages that trigger cancers.-“We’ve made XNA enzymes that cut RNA at specific sites, so you could make therapies for cleaving viral or oncogenic messenger RNA[F10],” says Holliger. “And because they can’t be degraded, they could give long-lasting protection.”
Journal reference: Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature13982
*******************************************************************
Scientists unveil giant leap towards synthetic life
Achievement akin to ‘climbing Mount Everest’ in its complexity
Steve Connor
Friday, 28 March 2014
Scientists have made the first artificial chromosome which is both complete and functional in a milestone development in synthetic biology, which promises to revolutionise medical and industrial biotechnology in the coming century.–The researchers built the artificial chromosome[F11] from scratch by stitching synthetic strands of DNA together in a sequence based on the known genome of brewer’s yeast. They predict that a completely synthetic yeast genome comprised of its entire complement of 16 chromosomes could be made within four years.-“Our research moves the needle in synthetic biology from theory to reality. This work represents the biggest step yet in an international effort to construct the full genome of synthetic yeast,” said Jef Boeke of the New York University School of Medicine, a lead author of the study published in the journal Science.-“It is the most extensively altered chromosome ever built. But the milestone that really counts is integrating it into a living yeast cell. We have shown that yeast cells carrying this synthetic chromosome are remarkably normal,” [F12]Dr Boeke said.–“They behave almost identically to wild yeast cells, only they now possess new capabilities and can do things that wild yeast cannot [do],” he said.–“Not only can we make designer changes on a computer, but we can make hundreds of changes through a chromosome and we can put that chromosome into yeast and have a yeast that looks, smells and behaves like a regular yeast, but this yeast is endowed with special properties that normal yeasts don’t have,[F13]” he explained.–The synthetic yeast chromosome was based on chromosome number 3, but scientists deleted large parts of it that were considered redundant and introduced further subtle changes to its sequence – yet the chromosome still functioned normally and replicated itself in living yeast cells, they said.–“We took tiny snippets of synthetic DNA and fused them together in a complex series of steps to build an essentially computer-designed chromosome 3, one of the 16 chromosomes of yeast. We call it ‘synIII’ because it’s a completely synthetic derivative that has been engineered in a variety of interesting ways to make it different from the normal chromosome,” Dr Boeke said.–The achievement was compared to climbing Mount Everest in its labour-intensive complexity, as it involved stitching together 273,871 individual building blocks of DNA – the nucleotide bases of the yeast’s genes – in the right order, and removing about 50,000 repeating sequences of the chromosome that were considered redundant.–“When you change the genome you’re gambling. One wrong change can kill the cell. We have made over 50,000 changes to the DNA code in the chromosome and our yeast still lived. That is remarkable, it shows that our synthetic chromosome is hardy, and it endows the yeast with new properties,” Dr Boeke said.–Britain is one of several countries involved in the international effort to synthesise all 16 yeast chromosomes. Last year, the Government announced that it will spend £1 million on the yeast project out of a total budget of £60 million it has dedicated to synthetic biology.–Paul Freemont of Imperial College London said that the first complete and functional synthetic yeast chromosome is “a big deal” and significant step forward from the work by DNA scientist Craig Venter, who synthesised the much simpler genome of a bacterium in 2010.–“It opens up a whole new way of thinking about chromosome and genome engineering as it provides a proof of concept that complicated chromosomes can be redesigned, synthesised and made to work in a living cell,” Dr Freemont said.–Artificial chromosomes designed by computer will be vital for the synthetic life-forms that scientists hope to design for a range of applications, such as the breakdown of persistent pollutants in the environment or the industrial manufacture of new kinds of drugs and vaccines for human and animal medicine.–“It could have a lot of practical applications because yeast is used in the biotechnology industry to produce everything from alcohol, which has been produced for centuries, to biofuels and speciality chemicals to nutrients,” Dr Boeke said.–“Yeast is a really interesting microorganism to work on because it has an ancient industrial relationship with man. We’ve domesticated it since the days of the Fertile Crescent and we’ve had this fantastic collaboration to make wine, break and beer,” he said.–“That relationship persists today in a wide range of products that are made with yeast such as vaccines, fuels and specialty chemicals and it’s only going to be growing. Yeast is one of the few microbes that packages its genetic material in a nucleus just like human cells. So it serves as a better model for how human cells work in health and disease,” Dr Boeke added.
.
**********************************************************************
Scientists create ‘alien’ life form with artificial genetic code
From left to right, the structures of A-, B- and Z-DNA. Zephyris
Scientists made a substantial breakthrough in understanding how to alter the fundamental nature of life, and they did so by creating for the first time a partially artificial life form that passes along lab-engineered DNA. –The work, published online in the journal Nature on Wednesday, came from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., and centered around a modified strain of E. coli bacterium that was fused with chemically synthesized nucleotides and was able to replicate its natural and synthetic components during reproduction[F14]. -Throughout the entire history of life on Earth, the genetic code of all organisms has been uniform, from the simplest of bacteria all the way up to human beings, meaning our genetic code is composed of the same four nucleotides labeled A, C, T, and G. Those nucleotides join to form base pairs, which are used in the creation of genes that cells use to produce proteins. –Researchers at Scripps created two new nucleotides, X and Y, and fused them into the E. coli bacterium. The organism was able to reproduce normally with six — instead of the standard four — nucleotides, meaning it genetically passed along the first combination of manmade and natural DNA. -“This has very important implications for our understanding of life,” Floyd Romesberg, who headed the Scripps researcher team, told The New York Times. “For so long people have thought that DNA was the way it was because it had to be, that it was somehow the perfect molecule.” –Because this breakthrough could impact more than just biological research, the field — called synthetic biology — is likely to be met with harsh criticism from those who fear that tampering with the building blocks of existence could be a step too far for science. The subset of synthetic biology focusing on creations unfamiliar to nature with expanded genetic alphabets is sometimes referred to as xenobiology. –“The arrival of this unprecedented ‘alien’ life form [F15]could in time have far-reaching ethical, legal and regulatory implications,” Jim Thomas of the ETC Group, a Canadian advocacy organization, told The New York Times. “While synthetic biologists invent new ways to monkey with the fundamentals of life, governments haven’t even been able to cobble together the basics of oversight, assessment or regulation for this surging field.”[F16]-To create a modified organism that would reproduce, Romesberg’s team had to first create stable enough artificial nucleotides. The creation of X and Y variants came only after 300 types were tried. The X nucleotide pairs with the Y, just as A does with T and C with G in natural DNA. It’s unclear whether a semi-artificial organism could sustain a far more expansive genetic code, meaning many more synethic pairs, and if there is any time-based restraint involved.-As far as worrying about never-before-seen strains of bacteria escaping into the wild, Romesberg stressed that this newly created organism could never infect anything[F17]. To continue reproducing the synthetic nucleotides, the researchers had to feed the necessary chemicals to the bacterium or else it would stop producing the X and Y pair. P–Romesberg and his colleagues’ findings follow decades of work in synthetic biology, and the results have long since left the confines of academic research. Romesberg’s company, Synthorx, is trying to design an administering technique for viruses that would rely on the artificial life forms’ inability to reproduce the synthetic nucleotides without the proper chemicals, meaning they could be used to create an immune system response while be inhibited from spreading.
Beyond those immediate applications, the next steps are figuring out if the synthesized nucleotides can be fused into the RNA of living organisms and used to produce new proteins, as well as discovering whether or not genetically engineered cells could be used to help organisms reproduce those synthetic nucleotides on their own.
[F1]The paradym has changed even in the health in alternatives this will change everything—this DNA or rather XNA is environmental will alter the natural things and alter them in ways we cannot conceive-which will also alter us and furthering some genetic change or alterations and possibly mutations in the physiology that can produce unknown anomalies or conditions or even furthering the life span to either become less or more or potentially disrupt the immune system to make it easier to afflict or potentially augment the immune system—at this point no clarity but to design a drug with an unknown DNA –could be irreversible
[F2]So are they from the space station up in orbit—are they from some parallel-or are they even alien? It is a thought provoker~where ?
[F3]How morgellons or nanopoisoningwould be made possible
[F4]Simplest layman’s terms no defence against this—with out enzymes to break them down and since they are a synthetic DNA they could very easily over write the normal DNA to cause mutations to occur
[F5]Imagine that New XNA that could evolve through Natural Selection—what happens to DNA??
[F6]Excite me Already—creating life with a XNA no one knows really anything about—and does XNA produce a X-MAN or X-WOMAN!!!
[F7]I love this another justification on this is going to be Good for mankind when all they have said leads one to think the opposite a new means to inflict-afflict or terminate
[F8]And this is comforting How? The y do not degrade in the system because they are not recognized –so that means sine the system is not aware of this XNA it will go without any check or balance to reduce this when it is finished –when it is done it’s job it may then stick around and adapt to or attach itself to DNA orrrr possibly replicate itself in a host and replace the DNA eventually—this is called mutation
[F9]A more effective way for war—the best way to treat and define diseases is to eliminate the weak or afflicted—case resolved XNA
[F10]Doesn’t this make one wonder why there has not been a cure when you can add XNA enzyme to converge with DNA and perpuate a condition indefinitely since the DNA has no enzyme to break it down—perfect pathogen to barely keep one aive and support the perpetual entanglement of a pharma stronghold
[F11]Chromosomes are thread-like structures located inside the nucleus of animal and plant cells. Each chromosome is made of protein and a single molecule of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Passed from parents to offspring, DNA contains the specific instructions that make each type of living creature unique
[F12]And so many people are filled with yeast—and can’t seem to get rid of it—maybe there us a connection
[F13]Would we call this Genetic Engineering—Artificial Life-or a BioNano tech—Or a weapon
[F14]Would call this Gentically modified Bioweapons
[F15]They are slyly telling us what it really is in this statement—truth right in the open
[F16]This is such BS—Gov’t have never came up with anyway to regulate anything in Biotech—that is alarmingly ridiculous—the ones who dictate the legislation has always been the oes who supported the funds for these projects such as Monsanto-symbus-bayer-dupont-basf Pfizer..etc—these are the ones whowill dictate policy and the gov’t will obey not the other way around
[F17]This is another one of those mystical magical statement of how inert it is but with all the interaction they are saying the YNA can do it would be a catastrophe if it got out
[F1]Would appear to be a construct of AL since these would compliment a XNA—living tissue does not refer to human living or Animal
[F2]Synthetic Life or Artificial Life
[F3]Insect like qualities