Man-made microbe ‘to create endless biofuel’

A scientist is poised to create the world’s first man-made species, a synthetic microbe that could lead to an endless supply of biofuel.

He said: “These monopoly claims signal the start of a high-stakes commercial race to synthesise and privatise synthetic life forms. Will Venter’s company become the ‘Microbesoft’ of synthetic biology?” A colleague, Pat Mooney, said: “For the first time, God has competition. Venter and his colleagues have breached a societal boundary, and the public hasn’t even had a chance to debate the far-reaching social, ethical and environmental implications of synthetic life.”
However, Mr Venter did ask a panel of experts to examine the implications of creating synthetic life. His institute convened a bioethics committee to see if its plans were likely to raise objections.

The committee, led by Mildred Cho at Stanford University, had no objections to the work but pointed out that scientists must take responsibility for any impact their new organisms had if they got out of the lab. The organisms can be designed to die as soon as they leave laboratory conditions.

Mr Venter first announced the project to build a synthetic life form in 2002. In theory, by adding functionalised synthetic DNA, the bacterium could be instructed to produce plastics, drugs or fuels.

Telegraph