So It Turns Out Intelligent Design Is Real...

[Steven_R]

...and we know this because human beings just built two new DNA base pairs out of scratch.

First living thing with ?alien? DNA created in the lab: We are now officially playing God | ExtremeTech

Now, it's not ID like the God Squad proclaims where life was put down here in the forms we see today by God, I mean an Intelligent Designer that is patently not God, no way, no how, nope, so we can put it in the classrooms of 9th graders. No, this is scientists building new DNA basepairs (Remember GATC? Now you can X and Y to that) and putting it in E. Coli and letting the experiment run.

The full Nature write-up is worth reading if you want the nitty-gritty details, but here’s the short version. First, the scientists genetically engineered an e. coli bacterium to allow the new chemicals (d5SICS and dNaM) through the cell membrane. Then they inserted a DNA plasmid (a small loop of DNA) that contained a single XY base pair into the bacterium. As long as the new chemicals were available, the bacterium continued to reproduce normally, copying and passing on the new DNA, alien plasmid and all. In the study, this process seems to have carried on flawlessly for almost a week.

As of yet, the new DNA sequences doesn't really do anything, but it may be possible to engineer DNA sequences to create proteins and amino acids.

So here's the actual citation: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13314.html

and the abstract:

Organisms are defined by the information encoded in their genomes, and since the origin of life this information has been encoded using a two-base-pair genetic alphabet (A–T and G–C). In vitro, the alphabet has been expanded to include several unnatural base pairs (UBPs)1, 2, 3. We have developed a class of UBPs formed between nucleotides bearing hydrophobic nucleobases, exemplified by the pair formed between d5SICS and dNaM (d5SICS–dNaM), which is efficiently PCR-amplified1 and transcribed4, 5 in vitro, and whose unique mechanism of replication has been characterized6, 7. However, expansion of an organism’s genetic alphabet presents new and unprecedented challenges: the unnatural nucleoside triphosphates must be available inside the cell; endogenous polymerases must be able to use the unnatural triphosphates to faithfully replicate DNA containing the UBP within the complex cellular milieu; and finally, the UBP must be stable in the presence of pathways that maintain the integrity of DNA. Here we show that an exogenously expressed algal nucleotide triphosphate transporter efficiently imports the triphosphates of both d5SICS and dNaM (d5SICSTP and dNaMTP) into Escherichia coli, and that the endogenous replication machinery uses them to accurately replicate a plasmid containing d5SICS–dNaM. Neither the presence of the unnatural triphosphates nor the replication of the UBP introduces a notable growth burden. Lastly, we find that the UBP is not efficiently excised by DNA repair pathways. Thus, the resulting bacterium is the first organism to propagate stably an expanded genetic alphabet.

Now, my background is in physics, not biology, so I really don't have a clue what any of that means, but if we're building DNA base pairs from scratch, and not just moving already existing DNA from one organism to another, then we're entering intot he realm of actually playing God.

Who needs a magical sky daddy and bronze age creation myths when we're actually doing the same thing in a lab? Science rules.

 

[g4racer]

Science Rules. Now that is scary. Seventy years ago a group built the Atomic Bomb and as its test approached much discussion was going on as the chain reaction could be carried thru the atmosphere and wipe out the world. Both sides were unsure of their convictions only about 50% on each side. If things didn't work out as they did . . . this would not be open for discussion.

 

[Hollie]

I suppose this means that the gods will need to be called down to the HR department and let go.

Technology is replacing many jobs.

 

[Steven_R]

I suppose this means that the gods will need to be called down to the HR department and let go.

Technology is replacing many jobs.

That's be an interesting conversation to sit in on...

HR Guy: ...so we have to let you go Mr. Jehovah. Best of luck to you in the future.
God: But I created the universe out of nothing.
HR Guy: Yeah, but you ask for 10% of everything in return. Post docs only get 40k a year.