The first - artificial cells - come out in U.S.A. The expert - artificial life is far from us

The first - artificial cells - come out in U.S.A. The expert - artificial life is far from us
The first - artificial cells - come out in U.S.A. The expert - artificial life is far from us
May 20 such as incident, American researcher claim, create the intersection of world and the first by cell that artificial gene control. Scientist Craig and Venter says, they have formated the brand-new genome, plant it into, pay into empty hereditary unicellular bacterium of material by one inside ' Goat's mycoplasma) ,Enable this receptor bacterium " Come back to life " ,And begin to breed in the cultivation ware in the laboratory. One play of news, someone cheers, even claim " the first artificial life of the world was born " ; Also someone worries, think this is tantamount to " opening Pan Dora's magic box " ,Will cause questions such as biological ethics, security of living beings,etc.. Comment on Gao Fu ( Vice President of research institute of Beijing life of the Chinese Academy of Sciences) : How is the life created out? Need at first " Raw materials " ,It is 4 DNA bases A, G, C and T, through different splicing, forms different genome, " assemble " finally Become various living beings, from the simple virus, to the complicated mankind, there are other animals. It and clone technology is different. Clone technology is to dig to duplicate the gene inside cells, and the gene that formed this time, pass 4 kinds " Raw materials " ,Formate it step by step. We can say, the former " duplicates " The life, the latter " formates " Life. " artificial cells " If technology takes shape, come to say theoretically, perhaps we can set up microorganism's factory, produce microbial medicine, microbial fuel, even microorganism cleaner who can decompose the pollutant, wait a moment. For example, we may not need to refuel to drive, so long as make a bacterium living beings afterwards, add it into car, as the biological energy, drives the car to go. But actually, this scientific findings are only the break-through in theory, have proved that it is possible to formate the genome outside the body, we leave " The artificial life " Still very remote. A piece of genome of artificial synthesis, but also need appropriate cells, offer an environment to foster and grow. In the experiment this time, " goat's mycoplasma " It is this environment. But it is not made by the mankind, it is only one the cells which draw the empty hereditary material. " goat's mycoplasma " What kind is the environment in cells, no one knows. Just like, we " formate " One piece fish,want raise up until it put into pond. But now, how to make this pond, what kind of water is used, we are unable to find out. As to " artificial life " To say, it is no doubt important to formate the genome, but it is a key to make appropriate cell environment even more, also more difficult. From this view point, " artificial life " The bottleneck that technology such as the difficult problem and cloning the living beings, test tube baby of the experience meet is the same. No matter from the gene digging out in cells, or the embryonated egg becoming pregnant outside the body, need to get back to the appropriate growth environment such as in cells or placentas. Make and is suitable for " The artificial gene " The cell environment of growing, we are far away, takes a long time. Certainly, " artificial life " Research work last dispute. The media claims, US President's Palestinian horse demands to assess the influence in the fields of medical science, environment, security etc. of this research. Much scientific circles and expert of the ethics circle appeal for stopping the research and development of this technology, because may bring the disaster to the mankind, for example used as making biological weapons, or mutation living beings, violate natural law. (old star is interviewed and put in order)


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