Scientists have made a huge breakthrough towards making a microbial life-form by creating the "semi-synthetic" micro-organism with a different genetic code from the rest of life currently found on Earth.
Research was conducted by the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., and was published online in the journal Nature on May 7.
All species of life, from simple bacteria to humans, use the same genetic code, which consists of four chemical units in DNA. The four chemical units of DNA, sometimes called nucleotides or bases, is usually represented by the letters A, C, G and T.
This sequence determines what proteins the cell makes. Those proteins then in turn do most of the work in cells and are needed for the structure, regulation, and function of the body's organs and tissues.
The researchers were able to chemically create two new nucleotides, which they called X and Y.
They put an X-Y pair into the bacterium E.coli, which reproduced normally, though slower than usual, replicating the X and Y along the way with the natural nucleotides.
The bacteria have a genetic code of six letters instead of the normal four, possibly allowing them to make proteins that could act in a different way from those naturally created.
"If you have a language that has a certain number of letters, you want to add letters so you can write more words and tell more stories," said Floyd E. Romesberg, a chemist at Scripps who led the work, according to the newspaper.
The work gives some support to the theory that life can exist elsewhere in the universe by using genetics different from those found on Earth.
The accomplishment could eventually lead to organisms that can produce medicines or industrial products that cells with only just the natural genetic code can't, according to a report by The New York Times.
Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute have already created a company to try using the technique to develop new vaccines, antibiotics, and other products, though a great deal of work still needs to be completed still.
"This is the first time that you have had a living cell manage an alien genetic alphabet," said Steven A. Benner, a researcher in the field at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Fla., who was not involved in the study, according to The New York Times.
Research will undoubtedly raise some safety concerns and questions about whether or not humans are playing God.
The paper might also call for stricter regulation of the synthetic biology field, which involves the creation of biological systems intended for specific purposes, according to the paper.
"The arrival of this unprecedented 'alien' life form could in time have far-reaching ethical, legal and regulatory implications," Jim Thomas of the ETC Group, a Canadian advocacy organization, said in an email, according to the newspaper. "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."
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