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 Summary
 Implications
 Synthetic biology in New Zealand
 Progress to date
 Links

 

 

Synthetic biology has been called “Genetic Modification on steroids”, providing not just the means to alter existing organisms but to make existing and novel organisms from the bottom up using the constituent genetic parts. It is an emerging multidisciplinary field that bring principles of engineering to biotechnology and is raising a unique set of opportunities and challenges for researchers, developers and regulators. This research has the potential to significantly improve our understanding of biology by helping test biological principles in more directed ways. Potential applications are being considered for environmental, biomedical, industrial, energy or military purposes.

 

Development is being driven in part by the decreasing cost of DNA synthesis and sequencing, the public availability of genetic sequence data, and an increasing understanding of genetic components and metabolic pathways. This is driving a shift from understanding to engineering biological functions or whole organisms. One synthetic biology concept involves transforming bacteria into 'bio-factories' to produce specific biological compounds or chemicals. For example, a bacterium has been engineered to produce Artemisinin, a plant compound used to treat malaria. The process is more cost-effective than chemical synthesis or harvest from the original organisms and could be used to produce other expensive drugs or chemicals. This type of application is really an extension of current GM technologies ? it adds a suite of genes involved in a metabolic pathway rather than just one or two genes.

 

The more revolutionary developments of synthetic biology involve creating novel organisms or novel biological functions from scratch by piecing together DNA. Two pre-existing viruses have been re-created in this way ? the polio virus, and a bacterial virus ? but to date no novel organism has been created from scratch. Several research groups are working on the identification and construction of 'biobricks', standardised sequences of DNA that could be inserted to produce predictable effects. At present much of the ‘bio-parts’ are being made freely available to the public by lead institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

A related, less reductive, field may also be emerging and has been labelled “synthetic ecology”. This proposes using mixtures of cells to engineer ecological interactions.

Research is currently being led by countries such as the US, UK and Japan, and is concentrated in universities, with an emphasis on developing a better understanding of how cells and cell components function and interact.

As more advances in synthetic biology are coming to light, recent discussions on synthetic biology have been ed on establishing regulatory frameworks to facilitate innovation and to avoid potential misuse of this technology.

 

 

Synthetic biology shifts biology from seeking to understand the natural world to a means of engineering desirable biological functions by recombining and creating genetic material. In some regards it is an evolution of existing gene technologies, but the potential to create completely novel organisms gene by gene provides a significant . Research questions are changing from ‘How does this work?’ to ‘What can we do?’ Given the intense debate over some genetically modified organisms, the extended capabilities of synthetic biology have the potential to reignite debate and concerns over safety, commercial, moral and ethical issues, with additional concerns about the creation of completely novel organisms rather than just modified organisms.

 

Early research effort is being directed to means for improving public health (by developing new and less costly treatments), increasing the supply of renewable energy and improvement in methods of environmental remediation.

 

The ease of access to genetic information and relatively low cost of the synthetic biology process has generated concerns about the application of synthetic biology for bio-tism. However, current conventional microbial and molecular techniques already have the potential to produce harmful organisms, so the risks posed by synthetic biology need to be considered in context.

 

An increasing number of complex single cell organisms are expected to be created by piecing together their DNA or RNA, as well as the creation of entirely novel organisms from constituent ‘bio-parts’. This advance especially warrants public debate about the uncertainties and potential for unintended consequences as new technologies are developed and introduced. In response to such concern researchers have introduced self-regulation and lead countries continue to develop national policies. Some commentators point out however that the trans-national nature of modern science, globalisation and geo-political concerns, including global access to biological information and the threat of bio-tism, render existing models of nation-specific regulation inadequate. Synthetic biology will contribute to these challenges, rather than necessarily creating new challenges.

 

Currently there is no significant synthetic biology research activity in New Zealand. While most important developments will occur in other countries, fundamental research is moving relatively quickly and aspects may be taken up here. While genetic material in the form of DNA or RNA is routinely imported into the country with limited oversight of the type and nature of the information it contains (re)creation of a synthetic organism will be covered by the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act since it involves in vitro genetic modification. The debate is currently limited in New Zealand and the potential human and environmental impacts of synthetic biology are yet to be put forth for wider debate or considered in a regulatory sense.

MoRST held a “Bioissues Forum” for government policy makers on this topic in April 2007 to alert government agencies to potential challenges that developments in synthetic biology may raise.

 

 

2002
Successful completion of a 3-year effort to create a polio virus from scratch

2003
Recreation of the 5.3 kb bacteriophage *X174 in the lab in 14 days from commercially available pieces of DNA

2004
Production of an antimalaria drug using engineered bacteria

MIT hosts the first conference on synthetic biology - now there are several

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announces a $42.5 million grant for research and development in synthetic biology

2005
Opening of the Berkeley Centre for Synthetic Biology by the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research

MIT’s Technology Review lists 'bacterial factories' as one of the top 10 emerging technologies

2006
Discussions for self-regulation of synthetic biology (echoing the Asilomar discussions on molecular biology in 1975). However, there was a lack of common agreement over what self-regulation means or should achieve

2007
Successful genome transplantation in bacteria, with no trace of the original recipient genome after transplantation

Completion of several synthetic biology regulation recommendation reports

2008
A bacterium’s entire gnome (Mycoplasma genitalium) has been successfully assembled from scratch by the Craig Venter Institute

The UK Royal Society has set up an expert synthetic biology group for information sharing and policy co-ordination

“Synthetic Biology: social and ethical challenges.” (May 2008). Andrew Balmer and Paul Martin. Commissioned for the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, United Kingdom. See http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/

 

 

Registry of standard biological parts
Wikipedia entry for synthetic biology
Ongoing discussion of so-called “societal issues” at OpenWetWare
Recent news at syntheticbiology.org