That new bacterium species we synthesized

[firecat]

Link via brooksmoses

http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100519/full/news.2010.253.html
(emphasis mine)

The custom-built genome is a near-exact replica of its natural counterpart, with just a few nonessential genes removed and a small number of sequence errors that don't affect the organism's function. The group also added four special 'watermark sequences' to help to distinguish it from the original version. The sequences contain a hidden code of names and sentences, along with a URL and an e-mail address for would-be decoders to contact.

.........

I don't know why, but that's the part that blows my mind the most.

(The icon is from a report about an earlier genetic experiment that gave trichromatic color vision to mice.)

Comments

Still waiting on the really tiny CAT-5

[emceeaich]

For their next trick, Venter's crew will encode a unique ipv6 address into each organism.

[eftychia]

I'm going to wait for a transcript to show up on the show's web site instead of bothering to transcribe it myself, but I liked the comments on Charlie Rose (PBS) that (paraphrased):

• This isn't artificial life; artificial life is what you have on a computer. This is real life, self-replicating and everything, but designed by humans.
• This is the first organism whose parent is a computer.

In a few days, I'll go looking for the exact quotes.

I also appreciated the bit about the importance of watermarking such things (so as to not confuse the evolutionary record, among other things), though I wasn't listening as closely then as I should've been.

[flarenut]

I wonder how long it will be before they make something that isn't just a copy of something else. They could probably combine genome fragments from a bunch of different bacteria and get something viable already.

Oh, yeah, and wipe out all the rest of the life on the planet...

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

If that's even true...;-)

When they do it with prime numbers, call Carl Sagan.

[caprine.livejournal.com]

That's fabulous!

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I haven't looked into that part but can only imagine they used the amino acid code.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

Remember the scene in Blade Runner where he uses some sort of electron microscope to read the maker's mark off of an artificially-grown snake scale?