Viruses from the printer

A printer for printing synthetic life forms is presented

Sergey Vasiliev, Naked Science

Legendary geneticist Craig Venter demonstrated the work of a "bioprinter", which collects whole artificial cells from individual components (so in the text – VM) with a predetermined genome.

Craig Venter may well be called a rebel in modern biology, a man whom not everyone is ready to accept. Nevertheless, everyone will agree that many of his works have become serious achievements of science, including an alternative project to establish the sequence of the human genome and, of course, the creation of synthetic organisms, such as the Syn 3.0 cell containing the minimum required genome (exactly 473 genes).

Venter's development of a "Digital-Biological Converter" has also been talked about for a long time: according to Venter himself, such a device can provide something like teleportation of living forms from Earth, say, to Mars. It will be enough for people to deliver the "printer" to the place, load the necessary genetic sequence into it – and you can start colonization without even arriving on the Red Planet yourself. According to Venter, this idea is supported by Elon Musk.

In a new article published by the journal Nature Biotechnology (Boles et al., Digital-to-biological converter for on-demand production of biologics), Craig Venter and his co-authors present a working prototype of a "Digital-to-Biological Converter" (DBC). A press release from Venter Synthetic Genomics tells briefly about the device and its work. In such a "printer" it is enough to load a set of "ink cartridges" with simple organic substances and a DNA sequence. Then the work goes on automatically and does not require any human intervention. The device synthesizes oligonucleotides, collects full-fledged DNA from them, and on this basis receives RNA and proteins.

Figure from an article in Nature Biotechnology

According to the authors, so far the pinnacle of this chemical evolution for DBC remains an entire viral particle (the H1N1 influenza virus was used). But, of course, this is not the limit: in the near future, scientists intend to expand its capabilities and get everything on the "printer" – from protein vaccines to simple bacterial cells.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  19.06.2017