J. Craig Venter
Autor von Entschlüsselt
Über den Autor
J. Craig Venter is the founder and president of the J. Craig Venter Institute.
Werke von J. Craig Venter
Life at the Speed of Light: From the Double Helix to the Dawn of Digital Life (2013) 161 Exemplare, 3 Rezensionen
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Wissenswertes
- Andere Namen
- Venter, John Craig
- Geburtstag
- 1946-10-14
- Geschlecht
- male
- Nationalität
- USA
- Geburtsort
- Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
- Wohnorte
- La Jolla, California, USA
- Ausbildung
- College of San Mateo
University of California, San Diego (B.S.|Biochemistry|1972)
University of California, San Diego (Ph.D.|Physiology and Pharmacology|1975) - Preise und Auszeichnungen
- National Medal of Science (Biological Sciences ∙ 2008)
Kistler Prize (2008)
ENI award (2008)
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- Bewertung
- 3.6
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- 10
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- 33
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- 5
For me, the book was interesting but not an essential read so i will probably not indulge by reading the full text.
But here are a few nuggets from the summary (ie a summary of the summary).
The study of biology asks one profound, powerful question: “What is life?”
Schrödinger was one of the first thinkers to suggest that everything that happens in a cell
German chemist Friedrich Wöhler.....chemically synthesized urea, the primary component of urine.....the first product that was normally only produced by living creatures.....it created a stir.
But the question of whether we can produce life artificially is no longer as pressing as it once was. Today, the question is whether we should. Plenty of people fear the potential dangers involved in “playing god.”
Today, the fields of chemistry, biology and computing have come together to give rise to modern genomics and genetic science.
In the 1970s, gene splicing made a huge leap forward. While early experiments involved only simple viruses, scientists in 1972 performed the first gene splice using more complex bacteria.
As DNA is the code of life, RNA is its delivery boy, transporting code from DNA to the ribosomes, or the cellular protein factories that put amino acids into the correct order to produce proteins.
the author founded The Institute for Genomic Research, the world’s biggest DNA-sequencing laboratory.
For the experiment, the team chose a “simple” virus called Phi X 174. This virus infects bacteria, and is called a bacteriophage. Phi X 174 had been used in various experiments for more than 40 years, and so was well-known in the genetics community. Phi X 174’s simple structure (with only 11 genes) resulted in the virus being the first to be genetically sequenced, as well as the first to have its genome copied. All this made Phi X 174 a perfect candidate virus for the team’s attempts to synthesize a complete chromosome.
In a mere two weeks, the team was able to prove that synthetic DNA, chemically built from computer code, contained the information necessary to produce a virus!
would it be possible then to synthesize a much more complicated
The team sought out the tiniest-known genome that is part of a living, self-replicating cell, called Mycoplasma genitalium. This tiny bacterium causes urinary tract infections in humans.
After painstakingly examining the DNA sequence and identifying the team’s watermark, they announced the successful, synthetic production of a bacterial genome.
The team abandoned M. genitalium in favor of a newly acquired synthetic genome from M. mycoides. This rapidly reproducing bacterium allowed them to review results within days.
However, things didn’t go as planned. With DNA sequencing, even the smallest errors can be fatal.
A closer look revealed the culprit: a miniscule, one-letter deletion in the base pair DNA sequencing. This seemingly small mistake threw off everything that followed it.
The team caught the error and corrected the sequence. The subsequent transplants went off without a hitch, and made genetics history in the process: the first living, self-replicating species to have a computer for a parent!
getting people to agree on what constitutes “life” is no easy task.
Technological advances have enabled homemade versions of lab tools, and open-source information might make it possible for nearly anybody to mess with the “software” of life. For example, bioterrorists could learn to produce potentially lethal germs, such as the bacteria that causes the bubonic plague, which killed tens of millions of people in the Middle Ages.
Building on their work using computer code to generate living organisms, the author’s team has been exploring ways to turn genetic information into electromagnetic waves capable of traveling great distances.
For instance, you could teleport the DNA of the Martian bacteria to a lab on earth, where scientists could devise and then teleport back an antibiotic.
But soon we may have robotically controlled genome sequencers that can read the DNA of any microbe and send the information straight back to laboratories on earth,
Modern biology has discovered life’s secrets, and they’re found in our DNA. Geneticists have in recent years unlocked the tools to manipulate, copy and even digitize genetic code, thereby opening up futuristic possibilities, such as transmitting DNA online or teleporting genetic code from Mars.
So, intgeresting but not essential reading for me. three stars from me.… (mehr)