‘Synthetic cell’ is not new, say Mumbai scientists

While the scientific community has the world agog with its latest achievement — developing the first cell which can be controlled by a synthetic genome — scientists in the city are not exactly jumping for joy.

“It’s an important achievement, no doubt," said professor BJ Rao, head of biology at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. "For the first time, a chemically synthesised genome has been incorporated in a bacterial cell to make it functional in a new recipient cell. This cell replicates a normal bacterial cell, expressing the new genes.

"So, technologically, it’s good progress, though we already knew how to make artificial chromosomes.

“This is not the equivalent of really creating an artificial cell in its entirety. [Craig] Venter’s new cell simply carries an artificial genome, but all its other components are from the recipient cell and are natural. Artificially creating those other components is beyond our current means.”

Rao said the experiment can be equated with organ transplantation, where the defective organ can be transplanted with a fresh one.

“In Venter’s experiment, an old genome has been replaced by a synthetic new one. But it doesn’t imply it can cure defective cells in human bodies,” Rao said.

A genome is the entirety of an organism’s hereditary information and is encoded in one’s DNA.

The professor agreed that the discovery will, however, open up new avenues for scientists. “The artificial genome can be put to good and profitable use and we can generate specific artificial cells for specific biological properties," he said. "It can be used to study new types of genomes, an exciting future area of research in itself.”