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June 29, 2007

Scientists Could Create First Artificial Life 'Within Months'

A milestone has been passed in producing living cells from synthetic genomes of lab-made DNA - the ability to move and manipulate whole genomes, bringing scientists to say that they could create the first new form of artificial life within months:

In a development that has triggered unease and excitement in equal measure, scientists in the US took the whole genetic makeup - or genome - of a bacterial cell and transplanted it into a closely related species.

This then began to grow and multiply in the lab, turning into the first species in the process.

The team that carried out the first "species transplant" says it plans within months to do the same thing with a synthetic genome made from scratch in the laboratory.

If that experiment worked, it would mark the creation of a synthetic lifeform.

Posted by Richard at June 29, 2007 10:30 AM

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