CliffNotes genome another Synthetic Lifeform
/First computer-generated genome could lead to custom synthetic lifeforms
Scientists at ETH Zurich have created the first fully computer-generated genome of a living organism. The brand new genome, named Caulobacter ethensis-2.0, was built by essentially cleaning up and simplifying the natural code of a bacterium called Caulobacter crescentus. For now it exists as one large DNA molecule and not a living organism itself, but the team says this is a huge step towards creating completely synthetic life and medicinal DNA molecules.
Over a decade ago, a team led by geneticist Craig Venter created the first "synthetic" bacterium, which was basically a digital copy of the Mycoplasma mycoides genome. That was then implanted into recipient cells and found to be a viable version of the real creature, even being able to self-replicate.
