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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/foundations/articles/taking-a-stride-toward-synthetic-life">http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/foundations/articles/taking-a-stride-toward-synthetic-life</a></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Harvard scientists create cell protein machinery</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">March 7, 2009</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Alvin Powell<br>
Harvard News Office</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Harvard
scientists have cleared a key hurdle in the creation of synthetic life,
assembling a cell’s critical protein-making machinery in an advance with both
practical, industrial applications and that advances the basic understanding of
life’s workings.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/directory/researchers/george-church" title="George Church">George Church</a>, a genetics professor at <a href="http://www.hms.harvard.edu/" target="_blank" title="">Harvard Medical
School</a> and member of Harvard’s <a href="http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/directory/programs/origins-life-initiative" title="Origins of Life Initiative">Origins of Life Initiative</a>, reported the
creation of billions of synthetic <a href="http://cellbio.utmb.edu/CELLBIO/ribosome.htm" target="_blank" title="">ribosomes</a>
that readily create a long, complex protein called firefly luciferase.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Church,
speaking at a Harvard Alumni Association and Origins of Life Initiative event
at the Science Center on Saturday afternoon (March 7), described the advance
for the first time publicly as part of an afternoon symposium called “The
Future of Life.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“We have
not made <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3214/01.html" target="_blank" title="">artificial life</a>, and that is not our primary goal,
but this is a huge milestone in that direction,” Church said in comments on the
work before the event. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Ribosomes
are bodies inside of each cell that take the instructions from <a href="http://www.dnaftb.org/15/concept/" target="_blank" title="">DNA</a> and
use them to create the proteins encoded by specific genes. Proteins are
critical to forming the body’s structure, including muscles, bones and tendons,
and are also critical in its daily functioning, through enzymes, for example,
which control metabolism.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“The
reason it is a step toward artificial life is that the key component of all
living systems is the ribosome, which does protein synthesis. It is the most
conserved and one of the most complicated biological machines,” Church said.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Using the
bacteria <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/stec_gi.html#1" target="_blank" title="">E. coli</a>, Church and Research Fellow <a href="http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/directory/researchers/michael-jewett" title="Michael Jewett ">Michael Jewett </a>extracted the bacteria’s natural
ribosomes, broke them down into their constituent parts, removed the key
ribosomal RNA and then synthesized the ribosomal <a href="http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/dna/" target="_blank" title="">RNA</a> anew from molecules. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Though
the advance may create excitement among researchers interested in life’s basic
functioning, Church said that the work’s industrial applications were its
driving force. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Industry
today manufactures proteins on a large scale using natural ribosomes, which
evolved over millions of years for natural, not industrial, reasons. Church
said that being able to create a ribosome means also being able to tweak it so
it better fits industrial needs. One possible use would be to create
mirror-image proteins that would be less susceptible to breakdown by enzymes,
making them longer-lived.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“You
really are in control. It’s like the hood is off and you can tinker directly,”
Church said. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The
advance breaks a 40-year period with little progress in artificial ribosome
creation, Church said. The last significant work in this area was done in 1968,
when researchers assembled an artificial ribosome, but in an unusual chemical
environment rather than an environment in which protein synthesis normally
occurs, as Church and Jewett did.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Church
and Jewett expected creating the artificial ribosome and getting it to produce
proteins would be the toughest steps in making an artificial cell. They were
amazed, Church said, when the task was accomplished in just a year. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The
ultimate goal is to create an artificial genome of 151 genes that they believe
are the minimum to create a functioning, self-replicating cell. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“It could
be that the hardest steps are still ahead of us,” Church said.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Joining
Church at Saturday’s event were human genome pioneer and visiting scholar <a href="http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/foundations/articles/j-craig-venter-named-visiting-scholar" title="Craig Venter">Craig Venter</a>; <a href="http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/directory/researchers/jack-szostak" title="Jack Szostak">Jack Szostak</a>, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical
School and <a href="http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/directory/programs/massachusetts-general-hospital" title="Massachusetts General Hospital">Massachusetts General Hospital</a>; <a href="http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/directory/researchers/george-whitesides" title="George Whitesides">George Whitesides</a>, Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers
Professor of <a href="http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/directory/programs/department-chemistry-and-chemical-biology" target="_blank" title="">Chemistry and Chemical Biology</a>; and <a href="http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/directory/researchers/andrew-knoll" title="Andrew Knoll">Andrew Knoll</a>, Fisher Professor of Natural History and
professor of <a href="http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/directory/programs/department-earth-and-planetary-sciences" target="_blank" title="">Earth and Planetary Sciences</a>. Harvard Provost <a href="http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/directory/researchers/steven-e-hyman" title="Steven E. Hyman">Steven E. Hyman</a> introduced the event. It was
moderated by professor of <a href="http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/directory/programs/department-astronomy" target="_blank" title="">astronomy</a> and Origins of Life Director <a href="http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/directory/researchers/dimitar-sasselov" title="Dimitar Sasselov">Dimitar Sasselov</a>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Szostak
presented his recent research into the creation and propagation of synthetic
cells, showing that membranes form from simple fat molecules spontaneously
under certain conditions. In addition to the membranes, he reviewed research into
possible ways that basic genetic information may have originally been stored
and conveyed in simple RNA-like molecules. His work, he said, is exploring the
properties of these RNA-like molecules, seeking variations that make them
better early candidates to store and replicate genetic information than either
DNA or RNA, which perform those functions in modern cells, but require complex
molecular machinery to do so.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In his
presentation, Venter described the search for genes around the world, saying
that microbes have been found on earth that can withstand radiation levels far
beyond that which would be lethal to humans, that can live in corrosive liquids
that would eat away a human finger dipped in it, and in a wide array of other
environments. The growing library of genes from creatures of all kinds –
totaling 50,000 gene families – has created a database from which industry can
pick and choose genes for particular applications. Using genetic engineering,
synthetic genomes can be created to do such useful things as create
clean-burning synthetic fuels, he said.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“I think
we’re limited primarily by our own imagination,” Venter said.</span></p>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>"Dogma blinds."<br>