Joe Gregorio
Scientists have been manipulating genes for decades; inserting, deleting, and changing them in various microbes has become a routine function in thousands of labs. Keasling and a rapidly growing number of colleagues around the world have something more radical in mind. By using gene-sequence information and synthetic DNA, they are attempting to reconfigure the metabolic pathways of cells to perform entirely new functions, such as manufacturing chemicals and drugs. Eventually, they intend to construct genes — and new forms of life — from scratch.
Interesting article, I hadn't realized how far synthetic biology had advanced.
I expect a hysterical Time magazine cover story with a Frankenstein cell by the end of the year.