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Biotech / Medical : Celera Genomics (CRA) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: allen menglin chen who wrote (385)	5/19/2000 11:58:00 AM
From: gao seng	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 746

Biologists are correct, of course, in their assumption that the more complex an organism is, the more genes it has. I guess that there are some comments that could be made about why the public funded group would want to show that there are fewer genes than generally accepted, but I won't go there. I submit this evidence to support the biologists assumption. It's ALIVE! (01/02/00, 6:45 p.m. ET) OPINION By Jeffrey Harrow, TechWeb News If reports from Celera Genomics -- as described in a Dec. 10 article on the BBC News website -- prove true, computing and other technologies we enjoy today may be poised to actually create life from inorganic materials. Brought to our attention by RCFoC reader Victor Panlilio and others, it would appear that a series of experiments has determined that "the minimum set of molecular instructions required to build a living organism" is contained within 300 genes, and the scientists have isolated that set. (For comparison, humans have up to 140,000 genes.) The next step, to be taken only after significant ethical review, is to create an artificial bacterium -- to create life from non-living chemicals. "It would clearly be creating a new species of life that does not exist," said Dr. Craig Venter of the Institute for Genomic Research in Maryland. Wow! I leave it to you to explore the article for more details of how this might happen, and you may also want to consider the significant ethical and moral issues faced by the scientific community as it ponders this next step. But it is truly incredible that our grandparents grew up with gas lights and with no way to speak further than their voices could carry. Not to mention no way to travel between random points faster than a horsecould run and with no way to treat diseases that now fall to a few pills. Now, look at this generation: Scientists are seriously talking about creating life! And, of course, as technology continues its exponential growth through this new millennium, far more amazing things are sure to cross the boundary from science fiction to very real science fact. Now, that's something to think about as we all cross the millennium boundary. May we all use our newfound skills very wisely. Happy 21st Century to you all! techweb.com news.bbc.co.uk