Scientists first managed to create an artificial living being
British geneticists first in the world managed to create a completely artificial living organism - viable bacterium with a minimum set of genes.
"The study, which resulted in the creation of a new bacteria, in general, initially pursued a somewhat different purpose - we wanted to test to what extent it is possible to reduce the genome of an organism, while maintaining the functionality of its basic systems of life," - says Dr. Craig Venter, head of the project.
Scientists led by Venter, an experiment was conducted on the bacterium Mycoplasma mycoides, with a genome consisting of 901 genes. Geneticists were able to cut back on the number of genes of the microorganism to 437, and thanks to a new bacterium that had not previously existed in nature.
In this case, the destination of about one third of the genes of the new microorganism, called JCVI-syn3.0, remains unclear. It is only known that the bacteria cannot do without them.
"Synthetic organism JCVI-syn3.0 is the brightest proof of the absence of the existence of the mythical “life force” which supposedly breathes life into inanimate matter. Theoretically, you can create any kind of organism, only by manipulating the genes, "- says Dr. Venter.
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