Synthetic proteins and synthetic life

The news came in last week and every publication was buzzing about it: 'Man created life!' Genetic research pioneer J. craig venter and his team published a paper in which they show how a synthetic DNA was made to replicate itself through bacteria. The synthetic DNA they created took over the bacterial machinery for replication.

It was a matter of time before this kind of research was going to be published. DNA is an informational code that makes essential components for the cell like proteins and RNA molecules. In its simple form, it is composed of a pairing of amino-acids (nucleobases), a five carbon sugar molecule like Ribose or 2'-deoxyribose, and a phosphate group. The physical structure of DNA (double helix) is twisted many times to form chromosomes. DNA encodes and regulates information in the cell, however, its three dimensional structure and its location on a chromosome is relevant to the way information is encoded and translated into functional proteins.

Having understood the structure of DNA, researchers were able to reproduce it synthetically. However, having a piece of DNA mimicking a real life DNA designed to create Life is still a long way:

First, it must replicate and this is what Venter and colleagues have achieved;
Second, it must produce proteins and this is something that becomes possible once the DNA is inserted into a living cell and its machinery;
Third, synthetic DNA must do the same in a eukaryotic cell, a cell that possesses a nucleus. Bacteria don't have nuclei and exchange their genetic information easily. Because of this, many researchers believe that bacteria cannot be separated into species. With nucleated or eukaryotic cells, life started to become more and more specific and more and more diverse, creative. Although already complex as life forms, bacteria are the simplest manifestation of life. Increased specializations within life forms came with multicellular organisms eventually developing specializations in cells and sexual reproduction.

What this new research item has accomplished is that it succeeded in making the synthetic DNA take over the real DNA in a bacteria for replication purposes. In itself this is a huge step.

What lies ahead if we are really to talk about 'man making life' is still unknown. And there is fundamental difference between making synthetic DNA replicate in a living cell and creating LIFE...Life is not only proteins, it is something creative and unexpected that emerged mainly with eukaryotic cells' increased specializations leading to the compartimentalization of DNA and its entrapment inside the nucleus and random combination and transmission of DNA material through sexual reproduction. During this process, some cells stopped replicating to take on a new functions int he newly created organisms. In the End, life is not only about replication, it is about complexity and creativity. It is about the unexpected...