Re: No Evidence for Protocell Given

On Jan 17, 4:44 pm, mc...@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Jan 17, 12:23 pm, Dana Tweedy <reddfr...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

mc...@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Jan 16, 9:16 pm, Dana Tweedy <reddfr...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
mc...@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

No DJT. Abiogenesis didn't happen. If it did scientists would have
created life a long time ago. Millions and mountains of software for
complex programs have been created in the last thirty years, yet man
hasn't created life yet.

That alone proves that there is no evidence for abiogenesis.

We're waiting for at least some progress in that field, John. Craig
Venter clearly thinks that he can do just that, calling it a big
philosophical step for humans, and promising to create what he
describes as synthetic or artificial life in the very near future. It
seems he has been thinking and planning this for not much less than
your thirty years, though I'm only aware of the concerted effort for
the last few years. At least he is putting his money (well, tax
dollars included) where his mouth is. He patented what is now called
"Synthia" in 2005, claiming to be able to synthetically create genes,
link a few hundred of them together and place them into a "ghost" cell
so as to "boot up" the living processes. He or members of his staff
have made several claims of being "weeks" or "months" away, but no
"Eureka" after two and a half years. It's hard, especially through pop
science articles, to even determine what he and his team have
accomplished to date, but here is a recent article:

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20080112/bob9.asp
"Glass says that the team is on the verge of making such a cell within
the next few months. In the Aug. 3, 2007 Science, the researchers
announced that they had transplanted the entire genome of one species
of Mycoplasma into a related species. The recipient cells began using
the foreign genome as if it was their own, showing that the receiving
cells can "boot up" the newly inserted DNA (SN: 6/30/07, p. 403). All
that remains is to finish piecing together a minimal, synthetic genome
and then to insert it into a Mycoplasma bacterium by the same
technique."

Read further to see why this would not be the evidence of life from
nonlife, leaving the philosophical or "conceptual view" bombshell in
question.

Here's a bit of the 2005 patent application:
http://www.freshpatents.com/Minimal-bacterial-genome-dt20070531ptan20070122826.php?type=description
October 2005
"These data suggest that a genome constructed to encode the 386
protein-coding and 43 structural RNA genes could sustain a viable
synthetic cell, which has been referred to hypothetically as a
Mycoplasma laboratorium (24). A variety of mechanisms can be used for
preparing such a viable synthetic cell. For example, the minimal gene
set can be introduced into a ghost cell, from which the resident
genome has been removed or disabled. In one embodiment, ribosomes,
membranes and other cellular components important for gene regulation,
transcription, translation, post-transcriptional modification,
secretion, uptake of nutrients or other substances, etc, are present
in the ghost cell. In another embodiment, one or more of these
components is prepared synthetically."

For some further background:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_26/b4040047.htm?chan=search
June 2007
"First he succeeded in reading humanity's genetic code. Now gene
pioneer J. Craig Venter believes he is within weeks or months of
creating the world's first free-living artificial organism in his
laboratory. It won't be much to look at--a tiny bacterium with only a
few hundred genes. But if it's truly feasible, he says, "it will be
one of the bright milestones in human history, changing our conceptual
view of life."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/oct/06/genetics.climatechange
October 2007
"Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race
to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome
out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of
the first new artificial life form on Earth.
The announcement, which is expected within weeks and could come as
early as Monday at the annual meeting of his scientific institute in
San Diego, California, will herald a giant leap forward in the
development of designer genomes. It is certain to provoke heated
debate about the ethics of creating new species and could unlock the
door to new energy sources and techniques to combat global warming.
Mr Venter told the Guardian he thought this landmark would be "a very
important philosophical step in the history of our species. We are
going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it. That
gives us the hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated
before".
The Guardian can reveal that a team of 20 top scientists assembled by
Mr Venter, led by the Nobel laureate Hamilton Smith, has already
constructed a synthetic chromosome, a feat of virtuoso bio-engineering
never previously achieved. Using lab-made chemicals, they have
painstakingly stitched together a chromosome that is 381 genes long
and contains 580,000 base pairs of genetic code."

.

Relevant Pages

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    (soc.culture.jewish.moderated)
  • vollum institute may unlock human genome
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    (sci.med.diseases.lyme)
  • Re: More shotgunning of ocean microbial ecology.
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    (sci.bio.evolution)
  • Re: Specifying an organism from genes
    ... genes as program specification. ... I described here the details of how one genome could ... expressed in a pine tree or in a grasshopper cell. ... broadly referred to as "epigenetics" is now known to be exceptinally ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Specifying an organism from genes
    ... genes as program specification. ... I described here the details of how one genome could ... expressed in a pine tree or in a grasshopper cell. ... You have to know the machinery on which the software/genome ...
    (talk.origins)