By Victoria Stephenson S41016134
When Darwin put together the theory of natural selection from his studies on biodiversity in the Galapagos Islands he would not have been able to imagine what his observations would lead to today.
Leading scientists are now discussing "Where to now?" Advances in molecular biology have discovered increasing numbers of genes. What is expressed as a result of these genes is being explored.
Current research teams are working towards creating new life, in an effort to explain how life on Earth started and then evolved. Some groups have created new molecules, rather than using the standard set, which will ultimately produce life that has never been seen before. Steen Rasmussen of the University of Southern Denmark and his team have created a small DNA genome and are now getting the DNA to co-ordinate the production of fatty acids. Other groups have created information carrying molecules that help to replicate themselves.
But creating new variants of molecules is not the same as finding out why the molecules in exsitence in biology have survived evolution. George Church (Harvard Medical School) and Anthony Forster (Vanderbilt University, Tennessee) have used familiar molecules from exsiting cells. Their work has lead to a synthesised ribosome, the protein-making organelle.
Tetsuya Yomo at Osaka University in Japan has created an RNA genome that produces a single protein. this protein then helps the RNA to replicate. This is the first time the gene to protein to gene loop has been closed in a synthesised system.
These new areas of research do present a problem that Darwin did not have to deal with. What happens if we create new life? Could it continue to mutate in biological systems outside of the laboratory? And what would be the consequences...Frankenstein?
Reference:
Second Genesis: Making New Life. New Scientist 2699, 12th March 2009
Retrieved 17th March, 2009
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