Engineering Life

[scruffy]

DNA-empowered synthetic cells as minimalistic life forms - Nature Reviews Chemistry

Structural and dynamic DNA nanosciences offer unique tools for engineering bottom–up synthetic cells. This Review provides a holistic overview for using DNA as a structural material, for designing functional entities, and for information-processing circuits for adaptive and interactive behaviour.

www.nature.com

This is where it's at, people.

Biophysics.

Let's say I need a protein that sits in a membrane and passes ions in a controllable way. (Pick an ion - Ca++ will do).

How do I get that?

The answer is, you get a cell to automatically make one for you, and position it, by programming the DNA.

DNA can be programmed in "cassettes" that are inserted into the genome using CRISPR or any other convenient method.

Every time you do this, you're creating a new synthetic life forms. By.now there are literally thousands of synthetic species, not and never found in nature.

They are already giving us some valuable information. Like how quantum tunneling through an energy barrier can proceed faster than the speed of light.

This research is now open source, it's happening in hundreds of labs across the country, as we speak.

Too big to stop.

 

[evenflow1969]

DNA-empowered synthetic cells as minimalistic life forms - Nature Reviews Chemistry

Structural and dynamic DNA nanosciences offer unique tools for engineering bottom–up synthetic cells. This Review provides a holistic overview for using DNA as a structural material, for designing functional entities, and for information-processing circuits for adaptive and interactive behaviour.

www.nature.com

This is where it's at, people.

Biophysics.

Let's say I need a protein that sits in a membrane and passes ions in a controllable way. (Pick an ion - Ca++ will do).

How do I get that?

The answer is, you get a cell to automatically make one for you, and position it, by programming the DNA.

DNA can be programmed in "cassettes" that are inserted into the genome using CRISPR or any other convenient method.

Every time you do this, you're creating a new synthetic life forms. By.now there are literally thousands of synthetic species, not and never found in nature.

They are already giving us some valuable information. Like how quantum tunneling through an energy barrier can proceed faster than the speed of light.

This research is now open source, it's happening in hundreds of labs across the country, as we speak.

Too big to stop.

Yes, Crisper moved biogenetic engineering from the billions dollar lab to a basement near you. It can not be stopped. Laser fusion application have changed the time period to create nukes from years to weeks. AI is soon to be smarter than you if it is not already. All this is not likely to turn out well for us. Too much power and knowledge came to fast for a species as mentally unstable as we are. Hope I am wrong but it is what it is.

 

[Votto]

Yes, Crisper moved biogenetic engineering from the billions dollar lab to a basement near you. It can not be stopped. Laser fusion application have changed the time period to create nukes from years to weeks. AI is soon to be smarter than you if it is not already. All this is not likely to turn out well for us. Too much power and knowledge came to fast for a species as mentally unstable as we are. Hope I am wrong but it is what it is.

Wrong!!

All we have to fear is Orange man

Orange man bad

Besides, January 6th.

 

[evenflow1969]

Wrong!!

All we have to fear is Orange man

Orange man bad

Besides, January 6th.

Well you and scruffy believe differently than I do on most things. This being said good Ole scruffy here is bringing up the real problem we face. A problem I believe is now unsolvable. The genie is out of the bottle. It ain't getting put back in. Better hope there is a God! If not all our little political discourse we discuss here is an absolute waist of time. Only God can help us now. Our time would likely be much better spent with the ones we love than arguing here. I pop on and off of here from time to time out of habit. In the real world though I focus on what is in my power to effect. I no longer chase the almighty dollar. I do enough to pay the bills. My real focus is spending time with children and grandchildren as well as with my true friends. My focus is to let those I care about that I truly cared. The rest the problems of the world I leave for God to sort out.

 

[scruffy]

Wrong!!

All we have to fear is Orange man

Orange man bad

Besides, January 6th.

Well... we could reconsider things like the COVID vax, they kinda-sorta had the right idea but 4 years ago they still didn't really know what they were doing. They were just early, that's all. Forced to jump the gun by circumstances.

Today though, what happens is this stuff has come out of the closet. pHarma tends to be secretive for business reasons, but now there are 400 labs across the country doing this research and more overseas, and every one of them is using AI in a race to understand the cell.

Cells are complicated little gadgets. The same gene that codes for blue eyes at birth, codes for Parkinson's later in life. But between A and B it gets sliced and diced a little, and its endpoints move. How this exactly happens no one knows, but by next week they probably will.

But seriously, this type of information-centric manipulation goes well beyond the ordinary feedback loop. It's highly non-linear and inherently fractal in nature (because of the "base" in base 3 or 8 or 24) - and the little bits of DNA communicate with each other and regulate each other "at a distance" - so for example, the usual "coupling constant" for nonlinear processes isn't going to work.

Human beings only have about 25,000 genes, and from those we make a bewildering array of biomolecules. And, you get the same critical "hot spots" in the gene pool, as you find in the brain.

One of the big lessons so far is the irreversible rearrangement of the DNA. The cell "evolves" in much the same way a human being does. Once you're 40 you can never become a child again, and a neuron can't regress and become a stem cell. Even though, the genes are still there, it's just that now they're being read out differently.

 

[scruffy]

Stochasticity, determinism, and contingency shape genome evolution of endosymbiotic bacteria - Nature Communications

Endosymbionts often have small genomes that maintain minimal functions required to serve their hosts. This study examines cases of new endosymbiont acquisition and finds genome degeneration involves both stochastic and deterministic processes that shape gene content and organismal function.

www.nature.com

 

[ding]

DNA-empowered synthetic cells as minimalistic life forms - Nature Reviews Chemistry

Structural and dynamic DNA nanosciences offer unique tools for engineering bottom–up synthetic cells. This Review provides a holistic overview for using DNA as a structural material, for designing functional entities, and for information-processing circuits for adaptive and interactive behaviour.

www.nature.com

This is where it's at, people.

Biophysics.

Let's say I need a protein that sits in a membrane and passes ions in a controllable way. (Pick an ion - Ca++ will do).

How do I get that?

The answer is, you get a cell to automatically make one for you, and position it, by programming the DNA.

DNA can be programmed in "cassettes" that are inserted into the genome using CRISPR or any other convenient method.

Every time you do this, you're creating a new synthetic life forms. By.now there are literally thousands of synthetic species, not and never found in nature.

They are already giving us some valuable information. Like how quantum tunneling through an energy barrier can proceed faster than the speed of light.

This research is now open source, it's happening in hundreds of labs across the country, as we speak.

Too big to stop.

Not saying it isn't but can you tell me how a protein that sits in a membrane and passes ions in a controllable way meets the characteristics that all living things (aka a new synthetic life form) possess?

Characteristics of living things

When you look at the world around you, how do you categorise or group what you see? One of the broadest groupings is 'living' and 'non-living'. This may sound simple, but it is sometimes difficult to decide whether something is truly alive or not. Here we look at the characteristics of living...

www.sciencelearn.org.nz

 

[scruffy]

Not saying it isn't but can you tell me how a protein that sits in a membrane and passes ions in a controllable way meets the characteristics that all living things (aka a new synthetic life form) possess?

Characteristics of living things

When you look at the world around you, how do you categorise or group what you see? One of the broadest groupings is 'living' and 'non-living'. This may sound simple, but it is sometimes difficult to decide whether something is truly alive or not. Here we look at the characteristics of living...

www.sciencelearn.org.nz

Yes.

One of the most basic functions of the cell membrane is isolation from the (hostile) external environment - which on a good day translates into internal stability.

However the cell a) needs nutrients, and b) needs to communicate. (Again very basic functions). It uses "gatable" transmembrane proteins for these purposes. Some of them are highly developed, for example calcium channels in neurons. Others are simpler like the chloride channels in muscles.

For nutrition, the cell membrane sometimes "invaginates", resulting in an intracellular vesicle. This process is highly regulated, even in bacteria and other single celled organisms like amoeba. Regulation involved tubulin and intracellular calcium.

 

[ding]

Yes.

One of the most basic functions of the cell membrane is isolation from the (hostile) external environment - which on a good day translates into internal stability.

However the cell a) needs nutrients, and b) needs to communicate. (Again very basic functions). It uses "gatable" transmembrane proteins for these purposes. Some of them are highly developed, for example calcium channels in neurons. Others are simpler like the chloride channels in muscles.

For nutrition, the cell membrane sometimes "invaginates", resulting in an intracellular vesicle. This process is highly regulated, even in bacteria and other single celled organisms like amoeba. Regulation involved tubulin and intracellular calcium.

And reproduction?

 

[scruffy]

And reproduction?

There are many forms of reproduction.

Their is everything from simple cell fission to actual panspermia.

"Most" forms of mammalian reproduction involve a chromatin spindle, which is a highly specialized arrangement of molecules in the cell, organized by the very same tubulin polymers that handle active transport and the cytoskeleton.

Sexual reproduction usually involves a "secretion", which is the opposite of a membrane invagination - molecules made in the cell are externalized.

There are also viruses which piggyback on the hosts' reproductive system (whatever it may be). And there are also microbes with round DNA and no nucleus.

Yes you're right, reproduction is an essential function

 

[ding]

There are many forms of reproduction.

Their is everything from simple cell fission to actual panspermia.

"Most" forms of mammalian reproduction involve a chromatin spindle, which is a highly specialized arrangement of molecules in the cell, organized by the very same tubulin polymers that handle active transport and the cytoskeleton.

Sexual reproduction usually involves a "secretion", which is the opposite of a membrane invagination - molecules made in the cell are externalized.

There are also viruses which piggyback on the hosts' reproductive system (whatever it may be). And there are also microbes with round DNA and no nucleus.

Yes you're right, reproduction is an essential function

And these new synthetic life forms have the ability to reproduce and pass genetic information onto their offspring?

 

[there4eyeM]

It may have become a cliché, but the presence of "artificial" intelligence in government would be better than the present lack of any.

 

[there4eyeM]

There are many forms of reproduction.

Their is everything from simple cell fission to actual panspermia.

"Most" forms of mammalian reproduction involve a chromatin spindle, which is a highly specialized arrangement of molecules in the cell, organized by the very same tubulin polymers that handle active transport and the cytoskeleton.

Sexual reproduction usually involves a "secretion", which is the opposite of a membrane invagination - molecules made in the cell are externalized.

There are also viruses which piggyback on the hosts' reproductive system (whatever it may be). And there are also microbes with round DNA and no nucleus.

Yes you're right, reproduction is an essential function

Not if what is produced is permanent.

 

[scruffy]

And these new synthetic life forms have the ability to reproduce and pass genetic information onto their offspring?

Yes.

As of about 10 years ago.

The synthetic life forms also evolve, just like all other life.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Apparently, life is only life outside of the womb.

 

[ding]

Yes.

As of about 10 years ago.

The synthetic life forms also evolve, just like all other life.

Do you have a link for that that you could share?

 

[scruffy]

Do you have a link for that that you could share?

Yes.

Which part, the evolve part?

This was one of the seminal pieces of research leading to the modern DNA cassettes, from about 12-13 years ago:

First Minimal Synthetic Bacterial Cell

Researchers from the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) and Synthetic Genomics, Inc. (SGI) have accomplished the next feat in synthetic biology...

www.jcvi.org

Here is a starting point for the evolution:

Evolution of a minimal cell - Nature

An engineered minimal cell evolves to escape the negative consequences of genome streamlining.

www.nature.com

 

[ding]

Yes.

Which part, the evolve part?

This was one of the seminal pieces of research leading to the modern DNA cassettes, from about 12-13 years ago:

First Minimal Synthetic Bacterial Cell

Researchers from the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) and Synthetic Genomics, Inc. (SGI) have accomplished the next feat in synthetic biology...

www.jcvi.org

Here is a starting point for the evolution:

Evolution of a minimal cell - Nature

An engineered minimal cell evolves to escape the negative consequences of genome streamlining.

www.nature.com

That's crazy. How far do they think they can go beyond a single cell?

 

[scruffy]

That's crazy. How far do they think they can go beyond a single cell?

Multicellular organisms are exceedingly complex. They're working on it. Recently there have been major advanced in the understanding of post-translational splicing.

An Introduction to Post-Translational Modifications

Post-translational modifications are changes that are made to proteins after synthesis, typically mediated by enzymes. In this article, we review five examples of some of the most-studied post-translational modifications.

www.technologynetworks.com

Engineering multicellular systems: using synthetic biology to control tissue self-organization

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[ding]

Multicellular organisms are exceedingly complex. They're working on it. Recently there have been major advanced in the understanding of post-translational splicing.

An Introduction to Post-Translational Modifications

Post-translational modifications are changes that are made to proteins after synthesis, typically mediated by enzymes. In this article, we review five examples of some of the most-studied post-translational modifications.

www.technologynetworks.com

Engineering multicellular systems: using synthetic biology to control tissue self-organization

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Agreed. Not saying they can't do it, but it looks like a tall order from reading how long they worked on a single cell.