By Gurumurti Natarajan
From in vitro to in vivo to in Venter, J Craig Venter is challenging
every bastion of biology that has come to be taken for the Holy Grail of
Nature, indeed of Life! Genetic engineering has ushered in synthetic
biology! His latest, Venter has sought to patent life itself with a
blueprint to create a synthetic microbe. No surprise here, for he has
several firsts to his credit: sequence the genome of a living organism,
publish the genome of a human and work at sequencing the genome of an entire
ecosystem.
Venter's US patent application published recently envisages a "minimal
bacterial genome". It claims exclusive ownership of a set of essential genes
and a synthetic "free-living organism that can grow and replicate" that is
made using those genes. Simultaneously the Venter Institute has also moved
the World Intellectual Property Organi-sation for similar claims seeking
monopoly patents across more than 100 countries.

Venter's group struck a magical number of 381 genes thought critically
essential to keep this newly created bacterium alive and functional. The
working model is Mycoplasma genitalium the organism they first sequenced. By
knocking out each of the 470 genes of this organism one at a time they
figured out which ones it can survive without. The scheme is to synthesise a
string of DNA that comprises these 381 genes, putting it inside a "ghost
cell" consisting of a cell membrane, along with requisite molecular
paraphernalia that are needed to transcribe and translate them into
proteins.

Voila, a brand new organism dubbed "Synthia" will have been created!

Given his success with the creating of the first truly viable
synthetic virus, Venter's patent application is no pipe dream. The
ramifications are as astounding as they are alarming. Venter's Institute
claims that its synthesised microbe Synthia could be the key to cheap energy
production targeting ethanol and hydrogen.

Synthia is not without detractors. Canadian bioethics organisation,
the ETC Group rues "for the first time, God has competition". Puffs Pat
Mooney of ETC Group "Venter and his colleagues have breached a societal
boundary, and the public hasn't even had a chance to debate the far-reaching
social, ethical and environmental implications of synthetic life".

Emotions aside, genomics of microbes promise some nifty applications.
Microbes are ubiquitous: they can survive at 100 times the atmospheric
pressure, grow luxuriously at temperatures of 100 degrees C and withstand
huge amounts of radiation. They play a critical role in the carbon cycle,
mopping up carbon dioxide from the ocean. Reflective of their high
adaptability in varied habitats, microbes make up over one half of all
biomass on this planet and such success offers some unique solutions to some
very pesky problems of life.

In the energy sector, for example, huge reserves of heavy oils and
coal abound in many parts of the world, but require huge amounts of energy
and water to harness them. Microbial communities can be channelled to
improve the quality of the oil while still in the subsurface.

Likewise, rather than excavate coal and burn it, which produces a lot
of carbon dioxide, a better alternative would be to convert it to methane.

Burning methane would undoubtedly produce carbon dioxide but would
also generate hydrogen, the latter being a cleaner and more efficient fuel.
Eventually, combining the production of hydrogen with carbon sequestration,
as to achieve a net zero release into the atmosphere would be the key. With
global warming taking centrestage the imperative to develop cleaner fuels is
truly urgent, synthetic biology may well be a harbinger of things to come.

Ten years ago, when the first mammal was cloned its creators Ian
Wilmut and colleagues were derided for 'playing God'. In the intervening
decade, Venter's adventures in genomics has bid Wilmut's Dolly to move over,
making way for Synthia, the first product of synthetic biology that promises
unprecedented opportunities in making this planet more habitable for all.


[www.financialexpress.com]