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Designer genes take a leap forward after scientists make new chromosome

by David Braybrooke
3 replies
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One step closer to playing God in the laboratory ..

Look miles into the future and imagine a day, when geneticists can design a flawless set of human genes in a laboratory.

That future vision may never arrive, but it has taken a step closer.

Scientists have built a designer chromosome and inserted it into a cell, geneticist Jef Boeke from New York University announced this week.

The chromosome was a heavily altered version, a departure from its natural counterpart. A team of scientists from around the world made 500 changes to its genetic base.
Designer genes take leap forward; geneticists make chromosome 'synIII' - CNN.com
  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    That is like saying that a person switching on a normally disabled register on a processor is one step closer to being an electronic engineer.

    This is a DANGEROUS thing for them to do.

    You know, one time a guy decided an insect, EASILY seen by the naked eye, was fairly robust and large, and mated it with a similar insect that was fairly docile, but better desired and less robust. It was fairly large! It used KNOWN attributes and they did something done for hundreds, maybe THOUSANDS, of years. WHAT COULD GO WRONG!?!?!?!?

    I'm surprised it is so low! SUPPOSEDLY, in 2008 only 53 people died from it, but they DID say it is increasing every year due to that attempt that created what is known as the (africanized) "KILLER BEE". I guess the message of the killer bees got out. I have probably been near DOZENS of european bees, and had a few land on me. I have never been stung. I hope I am NEVER near africanized bees.

    QUESTION...... How much more dangerous would a few billion microscopic asexually reproducing parasites be? 100 dangerous bacteria can be FAR more dangerous than 10,000 killer bees. And the bees could take MONTHS to become significantly more dangerous. Bacteria can become significantly more dangerous in less than an hour.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    I think it's awesome.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      I'm still waiting for designer JEANS that fit....never mind the genetic code.
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