Synthetic Biology 2.0

While the scientific community, and most of the intelligent world, has widely accepted that the theory of natural selection is underlying mechanism of organic evolution, until recently our studies of evolutionary processes have been confined to the examples from a small plant orbiting an insignificant star in a mid-sized galaxy. From this limited viewpoint we know that evolution is intimately connected with life... but as scientists, we would love to expand the reaches of our database.

The study of synthetic biology was until recently a theoretical science. Engineers, biochemists, and geneticists proposed mechanisms by which molecules and cells could evolve the basic characteristics of life through pathways other than those found on Earth. However, in recent the study of synthetic biology has progressed from a theoretical to an applied science. For example, we already know that it is possible to change the structure of the genetic code in the laboratory (see "Synthetic Life Makes Synthetic Proteins"). Now, researchers at the Scripps Research Institute have demonstrated that RNA molecules can evolve the ability to increase replication efficiency in the lab (see "Artificial Molecules Evolve in the Lab"). Each of these steps brings us one step closer to truly understanding life.

There is little doubt that the work of the researchers at the Scripps Research Institute demonstrates an evolutionary process. However, some will still argue that this is just another lab-based example of evolution, and that we don't really know for sure that the system demonstrated in the lab would work in the "natural" environment. The true test of whether synthetic biology is a viable demonstration of natural selection will only come when we finally get a glimpse of proto-life on other planets and moons. Europa, Titan, maybe even Mars, may hold "snapshots" of how early chemical evolution occurred. For too long biologists have focused simply on life on this planet. If we truly want to understand evolution and life, we need to start expanding our horizons.

Book Review: What is Life?

Anyone who has taken introductory biology is familiar with the stories of Mendel, the discovery of DNA, and Charles Darwin's adventures with evolution and natural selection. What most of these people probably do not realize is why this material is relevant in the modern age of molecular biology.


Ed Regis's book What is Life? Investigating the Nature of Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology takes the reader on the journey from the 1943, and the publication of Erin Schrodinger's What is Life? to the labs of modern day biochemists, cell biologists, and geneticists, who are beginning to unravel some of the fundamental questions about life. The book explores how we, as scientists, have reached the ability to develop life in the lab. This is often called synthetic biology, and it is frequently thought of as being the stuff of science fiction. Several of my blogs have covered topics relating to synthetic life (for example, see Synthetic Life Makes Synthetic Proteins), most because this is going to be a hot topic for society in the next few years. For as Ed Regis points out in his book, the work is already underway, and scientists are getting closer to unlocking some of the secrets of what it means to be "alive".

For those students who are burdened with a heavy reading load, or those non-students with hectic lives, this book is a mere 171 pages in length. Better yet, it is written in a non-technical style that brings to life many of the historical people in the study of the life sciences. It is an easy read, and anyone who has an interest in understanding science should check out this book.

Synthetic Life Makes Synthetic Proteins

The genetic code is the metabolic instructions by which the genetic information in the DNA is translated into a protein. The fact that almost all organisms use the same code is prime evidence that all life is related in its evolutionary past. The code is considered to be "conserved" and "universal". Of course, the concept of universality may be challenged by exobiology's explorations of Mars, Europa, and Titan, but the conservative nature of the genetic code, with the exception of a few Archaebacteria, has always been a cornerstone of biological science.


But the reality of course is that the Genetic Code is like the Cobal language of computer science. The Genetic Code is old (over 3.5 billion years). Of course life on this planet is not going to update the genetic code anytime soon - it is thriving using the old code, but evolution is a weird thing, if something better comes along, and a mechanism to adapt to that change exists, the out with the old and in with the new. Until recently it appeared to be metabolically impossible to "update" the code. But one species, Homo sapiens, may have discovered a way to fast-track the process.

The basic tenants of the genetic code is that the information coming from the DNA, in the form of messenger RNA, is "read" by a ribosome three units (also called a codon) at a time. Each codon codes for an amino acid, the building blocks of a protein. Proteins are the workhorses of the cell - everything depends on them. In other words, genes code for proteins. While we have had the ability to change genes for some time, using recombinant DNA technology and genetic engineering, until recently we were always confined to the use of the same old programming language.

Earlier this year, independent teams of researchers at Harvard University and the University of Cambridge have found ways to alter not only the genetic code, but also the cellular machinery responsible for deciphering the code - the ribosome. (see Synthetic biology: Rewriting the code for life by Linda Geddes, 2008). This process is called synthetic biology, and due to the efforts of biotech giants such as Craig Venter, this is no longer science fiction. We now have at our fingertips the technology to create new forms of life that are designed for specific missions and environments.

These advances open up unbelievable possibilities, and the potential for unimaginable nightmares. It may soon be possible to manufacture proteins that were not possible from a biochemical perspective just a few years ago. This could create new drugs that could finally eradicate some of our specie's biggest problems, such as cancer and HIV. It could also allow us to develop plants that tolerate salt water, or grow on toxic waste. A new programming language means endless possibilities. It also could spell our demise as a species. After all, the evolutionary history of life on this planet tells us that if something better comes along, the old is replaced... even if it is us. Let us not be so egocentric to think that we are special from an evolutionary perspective. Unless of course, you believe that our purpose on Earth is to generate our own successors.