Venter in 2004. According to reports, American biologist Craig Venter is going to announce that he has created the first ever "artificial life form" on Earth at the J. Craig Venter Institute , a U.S. laboratory and research center, using synthetic chromosomes made from chemicals. The discovery was made by 20 scientists on a team that was led by microbiologist Hamilton O. Smith which created the synthetic chromosome. The chromosome is filled with 580,000 'base pairs' of a genetic code, and is 381 genes in length. Using Mycoplasma genitalium bacteria , the scientists broke down the genetic coding of the bacterium and removed a fifth of it, making sure that only the essential genetic products exist to support life. They then inject the bacterium into a living bacterial cell, where the new life form takes over, creating an entirely new species of life. At least one test has been reported to be successful when scientists used a genome of a natural bacterium and implanted it into another cell. That bacterium took over that cell, creating a new form of life, and Venter says that he is "100\% confident" that the scientists will be able to get the same results when using the synthetic chromosome.
Venter in 2004. According to reports, American biologist is going to announce that he has created the first ever "artificial life form" on Earth at the , a U.S. and research center, using synthetic made from chemicals. The discovery was made by 20 scientists on a team that was led by which created the synthetic chromosome. The chromosome is filled with 580,000 'base pairs' of a genetic code, and is 381 genes in length. Using , the scientists broke down the genetic coding of the bacterium and removed a fifth of it, making sure that only the essential genetic products exist to support life. They then inject the bacterium into a living bacterial cell, where the new life form takes over, creating an entirely new species of life. At least one test has been reported to be successful when scientists used a of a natural bacterium and implanted it into another cell. That bacterium took over that cell, creating a new form of life, and Venter says that he is "100\% confident" that the scientists will be able to get the same results when using the synthetic chromosome.
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Craig Venter
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J. Craig Venter Institute
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laboratory
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chromosomes
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microbiologist Hamilton O. Smith
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Mycoplasma genitalium bacteria
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genome