US boffins synthesize self-replicating bacteria 'It's alive!
It's alive!' US researchers have fashioned the first self-
replicating bacterial cell, "creating new life out of already
existing life." This momentous milestone — rife with both
ethical quandries and immense potential — was reached by a team
of two dozen researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JVCI)
of Rockville, Maryland, and San Diego, California. Announced
Thursday, their findings have been published (PDF) by the
journal Science. The JCVI team designed and then synthesized a
1.08 million base-pair bacterial chromosome out of DNA's four
building blocks — adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine — then
inserted it into a recipient yeast cell that had been stripped
of its own DNA. The synthetic genome, as described by the
researchers, was then "booted up" and the cell went on its
merry, living way, replicating as an entirely new, synthetic
life form. The synthetic bacteria, happily reproducing
themselves through cell division In a FAQ describin