“THE TE AM HAVE NO
IDEA WHAT AROUND
ONE-THIRD OF THE
CELL’S GENES DO”
medicines, biofuels or microbes
capable of soaking up pollution,
the researchers say.
Most of Syn3.0’s essential
genes perform functions
related to expressing genes,
passing down genetic
information, or regulating the
cell’s membrane and
metabolism. However, the team
has no idea what around one-
third of the cell’s genes do.
“Our attempt to design and
create a new species, while
ultimately successful,
revealed that 32 per cent of
the genes essential for life in
this cell are of unknown
function, and showed that
many are highly conserved in
numerous species,” said
Venter. “All the bioinformatics
studies over the past 20 years
have underestimated the
number of essential genes by
focusing only on the known
world. This is an important
observation that we arecarrying forward into the study
of the human genome.”SIX YEARS IN THE
MAKING
Venter and his team first made
a synthetic cell with 901 genes,
dubbed Synthia or Syn1.0, in
2010 by copying the genome of
Mycoplasma mycoides, an
existing bacteria, and
transplanting it into another cell.
Taking the success of Syn1.0 as
a starting point, the team spent
the next six years painstakingly
cutting away genes until they
were left with a cell with only the
genes essential for life.
The results were published
in a paper titled ‘Design and
synthesis of a minimal
bacterial genome’ in the
journal Science in March.
“This paper signifies a
major step toward our ability
to design and build synthetic
organisms from the bottom
up with predictable
outcomes. The tools and
knowledge gained from this
work will be essential to
producing next-generation
production platforms for a
wide range of disciplines,”
said the paper’s co-author,PHOTOS: J CRAIG VENTER INSTITUTE X3, GETTY X2 TOM DEERINCK/MARK ELLISMAN/UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SAN DIEGODaniel Gibson.
CRAIG VENTER TIMELINE
In collaboration with Hamilton Smith,
Venter determines the genomic
sequence of the Haemophilus influenza
bacterium, marking the first time the
complete genetic sequence of a
free-living organism is decoded1995The Human Genome Project, led by
Venter, decodes the human genome for
the first time2003The J Craig Venter Institute (JCVI)
announces the complete synthesis of a
bacterial genome named Mycoplasma
genitalium2008J Craig Venter is born
in Salt Lake Cit y, Utah1946Venter graduates from the University of
California with a doctorate in physiology
and pharmacology19752001The Institute for Genomic Research,
founded by Venter, helps sequence the
genome of the anthrax strain mailed in
the attacks that killed five people —
evidence that eventually leads the FBI
to the source2004Venter embarks on a two-year trip
around the globe by sailboat, in search
of microbes for DNA sequencing2010The JCVI creates Synthia, the first-ever
artificial self-replicating organism