Mycoplasma laboratorium

Mycoplasma laboratorium is a potential partially synthetic species of bacterium derived from the genetic code of Mycoplasma genitalium. This effort in synthetic biology is being undertaken at the J. Craig Venter Institute by a team of approximately twenty scientists headed by Nobel laureate Hamilton Smith, and including DNA researcher Craig Venter and microbiologist Clyde A. Hutchison III.

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The team started with the genome of M. genitalium consisting of 482 genes and 580,000 base pairs (the smallest genome of any organism that can be grown in free culture), and systematically removed genes, to find a minimal set of genes that can sustain life.^[1] A synthetic chromosome of these 381 genes was then created. In 2003 the team had demonstrated a fast method of synthesizing a genome from scratch, producing the 5386 base genome of the bacteriophage Phi X 174 in about two weeks.^[2] However, the genome of M. laboratorium is about 50 times larger.

This chromosome is intended to be transplanted into the nucleoid of a M. genitalium cell. The process of transplanting a (non-synthetic) genome from one Mycoplasma species to another had been demonstrated by the team in June 2007.^[3]

The resultant M. laboratorium bacterium is expected to be able to replicate itself with its man made DNA, making it the most fully synthetic organism to date, although the molecular machinery and chemical environment that would allow it to replicate would not be synthetic.^[4]

Venter hopes to be able to use the bacterium to manufacture hydrogen and biofuels, and also to absorb carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The J. Craig Venter Institute filed patents for Mycoplasma laboratorium genome (the "minimal bacterial genome") in the U.S. and internationally in 2006.^[5]^[6] This extension of the domain of biological patents is being challenged by the watchdog organization Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration.^[7]

Related publications

Hutchison, Clyde A.; Hamilton O. Smith, Cynthia Pfannkoch, J. Craig Venter (2005-11-29). "Cell-free cloning using {phi}29 DNA polymerase". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102 (48): 17332-17336. doi:10.1073/pnas.0508809102. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
US Patent Application: 20070122826

References

^ Glass, John I.; Nacyra Assad-Garcia, Nina Alperovich, Shibu Yooseph, Matthew R. Lewis, Mahir Maruf, Clyde A. Hutchison, Hamilton O. Smith, J. Craig Venter (2006-01-10). "Essential genes of a minimal bacterium". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103 (2): 425-430. doi:10.1073/pnas.0510013103. Retrieved on 2007-10-16.
^ Smith, Hamilton O.; Clyde A. Hutchison, Cynthia Pfannkoch, J. Craig Venter (2003-12-23). "Generating a synthetic genome by whole genome assembly: {phi}X174 bacteriophage from synthetic oligonucleotides". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100 (26): 15440-15445. doi:10.1073/pnas.2237126100. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
^ Wade, Nicholas. "Scientists Transplant Genome of Bacteria", The New York Times, 2007-06-29. Retrieved on 2007-12-28.
^ Ed Pilkington, "I am creating artificial life, declares US gene pioneer", The Guardian, October 6, 2007. Accessed October 7, 2007.
^ "Artificial life: Patent pending", The Economist, June 14, 2007. Accessed October 7, 2007.
^ Roger Highfield, "Man-made microbe 'to create endless biofuel'", Telegraph, June 8, 2007. Accessed October 7, 2007.
^ "First patent claimed on man-made life form, and challenged", World Science, June 7, 2007. Accessed October 7, 2007.

Category: Bacteria

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mycoplasma_laboratorium". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.