Cenah, ceuk teori evolusi mangkeluk hirup nu aya di Dunya ieu asalna ti 
mangkeluk sederhana siga bakteri. Sanggeus ngalaman evolusi ratusan juta taun, 
robah jadi mangkeluk-mangkeluk nu "canggih", henteu sederhana deui.

Ari bakteri mucunghulna timana? Cenah akibat phenomena/ gejala alam we, zat-zat 
kimia akibat gejala alam robah jadi mangkeluk hirup. Akibat ku teori ieu, para 
saintist/ panalungtik nyoba niru gejala alam ieu, nyiptakeun bakteri alias niru 
NYIPTAKEUN KAHIRUPAN ti "barang paeh". Salila ieu percobaan-percobaan ieu acan 
ngahasilkeun, tepi ka mucunghul beja, saintis di Laboratorium Maryland jeung 
California Amerika geus hasil NYIPTAKEUN CELL JIJIEUNAN, bakteri sintesis.

Lamun bener, kabayang bakal loba pamadegan perkara kahirupan nu robah....

Nyanggakeun wartosna:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/3dbad5ca-6431-11df-8618-00144feab49a.html

Scientists create a living organism
By Clive Cookson, Science Editor
Published: May 20 2010 18:23 | Last updated: May 20 2010 18:23

Scientists have turned inanimate chemicals into a living organism in an 
experiment that raises profound questions about the essence of life.

Craig Venter, the US genomics pioneer, announced on Thursday that scientists at 
his laboratories in Maryland and California had succeeded in their 15-year 
project to make the world's first "synthetic cells" - bacteria called 
Mycoplasma mycoides.

'It has changed my own thinking, both scientifically and philosophically, about 
life and how it works,' says Craig Venter

"We have passed through a critical psychological barrier," Dr Venter told the 
FT. "It has changed my own thinking, both scientifically and philosophically, 
about life and how it works."

The bacteria's genes were all constructed in the laboratory "from four bottles 
of chemicals on a chemical synthesizer, starting with information on a 
computer," he said.

The research - published online by the journal Science - was hailed as a 
landmark by many independent scientists and philosophers.

"Venter is creaking open the most profound door in humanity's history, 
potentially peeking into its destiny," said Julian Savulescu, ethics professor 
at Oxford University. "This is a step towards ... creation of living beings 
with capacities and natures that could never have naturally evolved."

The synthetic bacteria have 14 "watermark sequences" attached to their genome - 
inert stretches of DNA added to distinguish them from their natural 
counterparts. They behaved and divided in lab dishes like natural bacteria.

M mycoides was chosen as a simple microbe with which to develop and prove the 
technology. It has no immediate application.

But scientists at the J Craig Venter Institute and Synthetic Genomics, the 
company funding their research, intend to move quickly on to more useful 
targets that may not exist in nature.

They are particularly interested in designing algae that can capture carbon 
dioxide from the air and produce hydrocarbon fuels.

Last year Synthetic Genomics signed a $600m agreement with Exxon Mobil to make 
algal biofuels. "We have looked hard at natural algae and we can't find one 
that can make the fuels we want on the scales we need," Dr Venter said.

The researchers built up the synthetic genome of M mycoides, with its million 
chemical letters, by stitching together shorter stretches of DNA, each about 
1,000 letters long. They then transferred the completed genome into the shell 
of another bacterium M capricolum whose own DNA had been removed.

The transplanted genome "booted up" the host cell and took over its biological 
machinery. After 30 cell divisions, there were billions of synthetic bacteria 
in the lab dishes - all of them making exclusively the biological molecules 
associated with M mycoides.

Experts warn of the risks as well as the benefits of synthetic biology. "We 
need new standards of safety evaluation for this kind of radical research and 
protections from military or terrorist misuse and abuse," said Prof Savulescu.

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