[LINK] o/t: synthetic-biology

[Birch, Jim]

Stephen at melbpc wrote

> Teenagers attending $26 courses at a city college in America are
playing at
> being genetic engineers. They are encouraged to create completely  new
genes,
> and from there, living bacteria, during short term summer courses.

> A new Black Death gene anyone .. with NO known natural genetic
defences?

Careful inspection of epidemiological evidence suggests that the Black
Death was, in fact, a viral hemorrhagic fever, not the bacterial bubonic
plague.  This group of viral diseases includes Ebola. See, eg,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/may/16/health.books  

This is good news, perhaps.  There is a range of effective treatments
for bacterial infections (despite some problems with antibiotic
resistance arising from overuse) and significant scope for more as
molecular biology develops.  More generally, bacteria are highly
specific to their environment.  In doesn't matter what genes you add to
a bacterium that attacks plants, you won't make something can infect and
kill mammals.  The bacteria would require an enormous number of specific
changes to attack such a different type of host.  It's like expecting a
label printer to do GPS location because it's an electronic gadget. (In
fact, this would be many orders of magnitude easier to arrange.) I think
we can presume that these gene kiddies won't be working with anything
remotely dangerous to humans.

Viruses are much tougher targets.  This is partly because their modus
operandi is the clever co-option of the normal cellular activity of
their host.  OTOH a virus is up against it's limited genome size, so
mutations that improve one function, say a better transmission
mechanism, will likely reduce other capabilities, like its ability to
evade the host immune system.  That's why the bird flu mutation risk
was/is considered overblown by many virologists.  Again, let's not get
kids onto viruses that target mammal/human cells, but realistically it's
unlikely that you will make a doomsday virus by accident.  It's like the
threat that back holes created in a collider would suck in the earth: if
it was possible, then statistically, it would have already happened.

Jim


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