microbesoft bid: Straightgoods.com
 
Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:58:28 -0500 (CDT)


from: http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature7.cfm?REF=338
Synthetic lifeforms by Microbesoft

Genome guru seeks patent on synthetic life form.

Dateline: Tuesday, June 19, 2007

by Stephen Leahy

Jun 11 (IPS) Patent applications for the world's first-ever human-made 
species have been made to patent offices around the world.

The Venter Institute, named for its founder and CEO, J Craig Venter, has 
applied for a patent on a novel bacterium made entirely from synthetic DNA 
in the laboratory, according to a civil society organisation concerned that 
this new technology is outpacing ethics and safety protocols. Applications 
have reportedly been made to more than 100 patent offices over the past few 
months for the synthetic bacterium called "Mycoplasma laboratorium".

"In the tradition of 'Dolly,' (the first cloned animal) we have nicknamed 
this synthetic organism 'Synthia'", said Jim Thomas of ETC Group, a 
Canada-based organisation that recently won a 13-year legal battle against 
Monsanto's species-wide soybean patent.

4a77d7.jpg"These monopoly claims signal the start of a high-stakes 
commercial race to synthesise and privatise synthetic life forms," Thomas 
told this reporter. "Will Venter's company become the 'Microbesoft' of 
synthetic biology?"

While this would be the world's first de novo bacterium, there has been no 
confirmation by the company of its existence. The Venter Institute did not 
return IPS phone calls and emails for comment. However, Thomas told this 
reporter that an announcement to that effect will likely be made by the 
Institute later this year.

J Craig Venter, who gained worldwide fame in 2000 when he mapped the human 
genetic code, announced the start-up of a company called Synthetic Genomics 
in 2005. Its goal was to construct new organisms that, among other things, 
use genes culled from the sea to turn crops such as switch grass and 
cornstalks into ethanol, produce hydrogen, secrete nonpolluting heating oil 
or break down greenhouse gases.

"It's a very powerful technology that could be used in a huge range of 
applications," Thomas said.

In media reports last year, Venter said that if researchers could create a 
synthetic organism that produced fuel, it could be worth "a trillion 
dollars" and was something his institute would quickly patent.

Synthetic biology combines biology and engineering to build entirely new 
biological entities from the ground up. In 2004, a bacteriophage was 
re-created with synthetic biology by assembling 5,000 base pairs of the 
fundamental units that make up DNA. The human genome has three billion base 
pairs, while bacteria have just four million pairs.

This new technology is more akin to software engineering than to 
biotechnology. In fact, once the technical challenges are overcome, it will 
be far easier and faster to create new organisms that have specific 
capabilities. The Venter Institute's synthetic bacterium could be the 
foundation a living foundation onto which other specialised genes would be 
added to create functionality for a variety of applications.

"Think of it as an operating system like Windows," Thomas said....

whole article at: http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature7.cfm?REF=338

Penney Kome, author and journalist
http://penneykome.ca
Editor, Straight Goods, http://straightgoods.com 

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