Mycoplasma laboratorium (first cell with a synthetic genome)
Mycoplasma laboratorium (primera célula con genoma sintético)
- Date
- 2010 · confidence high
- Place
- J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, Maryland, United States
- Credited to
- Daniel Gibson, Hamilton Smith, Craig Venter and colleagues
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
The JCVI chemically synthesised the genome of Mycoplasma mycoides (1.08 million base pairs), assembled it in yeast and transplanted it into a recipient cell of M. capricolum. The resulting cell (JCVI-syn1.0) is controlled solely by synthetic DNA and multiplies.
Published in Science (May 2010). The genome was copied from a natural one with “watermarks” in its sequence; it is not life created from nothing but a designed genome installed in an existing cell.
What it led to
- minimal genome of 473 genes (JCVI-syn3.0, 2016)
- synthetic yeast chromosomes and recoded E. coli
- ethical and biosafety debates on “synthetic life”