First genome transplant changes one species into another

First genome transplant changes one species into another

www.physorg.com

Scientists Carole Lartigue and colleagues from the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland, have published their results in a recent issue of Science. In addition to being a proof-of-concept experiment, the researchers hope that genome transplantation will enable the production of synthetic microbes for green energy sources, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and textiles.

The scientists’ results show that it is possible to transplant the complete set of DNA—the genome—from one species...

(visit the link for the full news article)

Mod Edit: Removed excessive copy/paste over the 500 character limit.

[edit on 17-8-2007 by UM_Gazz]

For the first time a complete genome transplant has been done to change one species of bacteria to another.

Science-fiction becoming reality.

These are interesting times we are living.

www.physorg.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

this is incredible. I wonder what applications this could have in the future. Bringing back the wooly mammoth, extinct species? relly cool.

Very valuable discovery. You can imagine that a GM microbe can be used to take out atmospheric CO2 and turn it into monomers in order to make plastics. So, all the excess CO2 in the atmosphere can be gradually reduced using the microbes and safely turned into biodegradeable plastics. Or GM microbes can be used for digestible protein. The possibilities are endless...

The danger: the Defence Ministry may need to 'build' humans with genes for fast healing, high growth, high muscle content, high IQ, high aggressiveness.... All it needs is a good (terrorist) excuse and you never know what will happen next?

So could it be used for instance...

Turning a male, into a female? lol I'm sure the bunch of hypnotists i chat with would love that. lol.

Or... Turning a human into a sheep?

This has huge implications for the theory of evolution. We now know that changing the genome of something actually changes it to something else. Interesting.

Originally posted by DaRAGE
So could it be used for instance...

Turning a male, into a female? lol I'm sure the bunch of hypnotists i chat with would love that. lol.

Or... Turning a human into a sheep?

No, they can't turn a male into a female, or a female into a male, or a man into a sheep.

They took a unicellular organism, a simple organism, and transfered its genome into another unicellular organism, another simple organism.

Humans and sheep are complex multicellular organisms. I kind of doubt they would ever be able to turn a man into a sheep, or a male into a female or vice-versa.

This discovery has better applications that could make life much better in many ways, such as the one Heronumber0 mentioned, although it will probably take them some time to be able to do something like what he said, if it can ever be done. Heronumber0's idea of turning microbes into digestable food is a good idea.

But instead of trying to take out "excess CO2", first of all you might end up taking all CO2 from the atmosphere, and that would mean no more forests and plants on Earth, and of course no more animals or humans too. This technology could be used to convert cancer cells into healthy cells, diseased skin, or burned skin could be made healthy again, etc.

[edit on 17-8-2007 by Muaddib]

OK this isn't my field but do you think this could be used to change cancer cells back to health ones?

Originally posted by intrepid
OK this isn't my field but do you think this could be used to change cancer cells back to health ones?

hehe, read the additional response i gave in my post before yours.

Yes, this can be used to turn cancer cells, or damaged cells into healthy cells.

[edit on 17-8-2007 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by Griff
This has huge implications for the theory of evolution. We now know that changing the genome of something actually changes it to something else. Interesting.

Well it can be done to bacteria, but you can't change a man into a sheep. You can't turn a grown adult, or a child who is already developing and change the child into a sheep, unless you take the embrio of a human from an early stage and then change the genome, which I hope no crazy geneticist would ever try that.

Truly amazing-Especially the part about turning cancer cells healthy!
I wonder how far this will go.

BTW,make mine a buzzard-ectomy please so that I can soar above the mountains in peace,away from all the silly human stuff I have to deal with...


flagged.

Originally posted by Muaddib
this technology could be used to convert cancer cells into healthy cells, diseased skin, or burned skin could be made healthy again, etc.

[edit on 17-8-2007 by Muaddib]

If that's the case this should get massive funding. At least one would hope so.

Intrepid, i just did a search on transforming cancer cells into healthy cells and this is what I found, it is a first step.

In Finding a Way to Create Cancer, Hope for New Test

sing a precise molecular recipe, scientists have succeeded in turning normal human cells into cancer cells in the laboratory, a task that sounded simple but which eluded molecular biologists for more than 15 years.

In the end, what was required was just three genes. One pushed cells to grow unrelentingly, one inactivated signals for cells to stop growing and the third released a brake on the cells' life span.

www.nytimes.com...

If geneticists have been able to turn healthy cells into cancerous cells, the oposite can also be done, and that was in 1999, and they only needed to change three genes to accomplish this.

[edit on 17-8-2007 by Muaddib]

Here is another article about research done in cancer genome which eventually will allow geneticists to repair cancer cells.

Cancer Genome Scientists Discover 100 More Mutated Genes
Major study finding offers clues to a cure.

SOURCES: Len Lichtenfeld, M.D., deputy chief medical officer, American Cancer Society, Atlanta; March 6, 2007, Nature news teleconference with Andrew Futreal, Ph.D., and Michael Stratton, Ph.D., co-leaders, Cancer Genome Project, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, England)


WEDNESDAY, March 7 (HealthDay News) -- Cancer is a disease of genes gone awry, but new insights into the "cancer genome" could point the way to effective treatments, an international team of researchers reports.

Scientists taking part in the Cancer Genome Project say they've identified more than 100 mutated genes that help drive 210 different cancer types.

Each mutation could prove a promising new target for drug research, the scientists say.

"Looking at this set of genes may actually provide clues as to what is causing cancer and to also provide opportunities to think about developing therapeutic strategies against it," said the project's co-leader, Andrew Futreal of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, England.

He and team co-leader Michael Stratton, also of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, spoke to reporters at a special press conference Tuesday on the findings. The findings were expected to be published in the March 8 issue of the journal Nature.

According to the researchers, scientists have already uncovered about 350 cancer genes over the past few decades, usually through laborious single-gene experiments that took a long time to complete.

www.healthfinder.gov...

The above research started in 2005.

NIH Launches Cancer Genome Project
Genetic Mapping Could Revolutionize Treatment and Prevention, Health Officials Say

By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005; Page A14

Federal health officials yesterday launched the biggest genetic research endeavor since the landmark human genome project: an ambitious effort to categorize all of the hundreds of molecular glitches that turn normal healthy cells into cancers.

The Cancer Genome Atlas, whose total cost could reach $1 billion or more, will for the first time direct the full force of today's sophisticated genetic technologies to the thorough understanding of a single disease -- one that will eventually strike nearly half of all Americans alive.

www.washingtonpost.com...



[edit on 17-8-2007 by Muaddib]

Humm, you know what would be a great idea? If geneticists were able to isolate the genes that make bacteria reproduce, the gene/s that cause the binary fission in bacteria, that's how bacteria reproduce, that gene/s could be transfered to certain foods, such as bread and it might be possible to grow bread.

The possibilities would be limitless.

[edit on 17-8-2007 by Muaddib]