MEET SYN3.0, THE
SIMPLEST LIVING
THING ON EARTH
BIOLOGISTS CREATE SYNTHETIC
BACTERIA TO HELP UNCOVER THE
BASIC RECIPE FOR LIFE
DISPATCHES FROM THE CUTTING EDGE
BIOENGINEERING
A team led by genomics pioneer J Craig Venter has
synthesised a living bacterium that contains all the
necessities for life yet has just 473 genes, making it
simpler than any self-replicating cell found in nature.
Humans have around 24,000 genes.
The researchers hope that the cell will help them to
tease out the most basic building blocks of life and
begin unravelling the mystery of how complex
organisms evolved on Earth, more than three billion
years ago. The technique used to create Syn3.
could also pave the way for the creation of tailor-
made organisms that could be used to create new PHOTO: TOM DEERINCK/MARK ELLISMAN/UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SAN DIEGOSyn3.0 could become the
blueprint for synthetic
organisms in the futureUpdate
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