Complexity Digest 2003.46 - 06.01

Nov. 17, 2003

Scientists Create Artificial Form of Life, Voice of America Bookmark and Share

Excerpts: "The team was actually more successful than any of us imagined, and we got viruses with 100 percent of the activity, showing that the synthesis method was very robust," (…) Researchers had previously created an artificial poliovirus by stringing together DNA fragments and then letting a naturally occurring enzyme transform the string into proteins that ultimately formed an infectious microbe. But that process took three years and produced organisms with defective genes. In contrast, the Phi-X virus took only 14 days to make and it was without defects.