select search filters
briefings
roundups & rapid reactions
Fiona fox's blog
An expert in molecular microbiology commented on the report that a research group led by Dr Craig Venter had successfully removed the DNA from a bacterial cell and replaced it with the DNA of another species of bacteria.
Professor Brian Spratt, Chair in Molecular Microbiology, Imperial College, said:
“Craig Venter has been promising a synthetic bacterium for some time. He appears to have solved one of the two key steps – a proven mechanism by which he could replace the resident chromosome of a bacterium with a chromosome synthesised in a test tube – now he has to show he is able to produce the synthetic chromosome. I think most people who know Craig believes he will make a synthetic bacterium, and I suspect he may well have already done it.
“Venter wants to synthesise designer bacteria to make money, others may wish to do so to produce novel bioweapons – but should we worry? At the moment, probably not in the case of designer bacteria as, when achieved, synthesis of bacteria will for some years be a technical tour de force. However, there are worries about synthetic viruses as DNA synthesis technology is advancing fast and will inevitably become more and more accessible to laboratories with good but not exceptional molecular biology skills.”