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This is not gene therapy, at least not in the usual sense of the word. It is just a continuation of existing work and he's doing it in microbes. We've been transferring DNA from one microorganism to another for decades. Many medicines are produced using this sort of technology. On 6/29/07, Peggy Willocks <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > It's time to stir up some of those stagnant brain cells. If so moved (and > without argument), please respond with your views on this: > (Excerpts are listed below - follow the link for the entire article) > Peggy > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...062802046.html > > Scientists Report DNA Transplant > Organisms Adopt Donor Traits > > By Rick Weiss > Washington Post Staff Writer > Friday, June 29, 2007; Page A03 > > Scientists said yesterday that they had transplanted a microbe's entire, > tangled mass of DNA into a closely related organism, a delicate operation > that cleanly transformed the recipient from one species into the other. > * * * > "This is equivalent to changing a Macintosh computer into a PC by > inserting > a new piece of [PC] software," said study leader J. Craig Venter, chief > executive of Synthetic Genomics, a Rockville company racing to be the > first > to create fully synthetic, replicating cells. > > The success confirms that chromosomes can survive transplantation intact > and > literally rewrite the identity and occupation of the cells they move into. > That is a crucial finding for scientists who hope to make novel life forms > by packing synthetic chromosomes into hollow, laboratory-grown cells. > * * * * > The total identity makeover, described in yesterday's online edition of > the > journal Science, is a modern version of work done in the 1940s, when > Rockefeller University scientists moved DNA from one strain of a bacterial > species to another, causing a change that was passed to its offspring. > That > work is enshrined in history books as the first proof that DNA is the > chemical carrier of genetic information. > > Similarly, scientists at Harvard University earlier this month reported > they > had performed "whole genome" transplants from mouse cells into fertilized > mouse eggs, a move that reprogrammed those eggs to behave differently. > > But the new work, done at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, is > the > first in which the entire genetic load from one species has been > transferred > to another species "naked" -- without the cumbersome protein coatings that > usually envelop DNA and can get in scientists' way. > > Moreover, the size of the transplanted genome, about 1 million genetic > letters, or "bases," is large. That offers hope that complicated genetic > programs requiring lots of DNA code will be transplantable. > * * * * > The organisms he is working with do not cause disease, he said, and could > be > modified so they cannot survive outside the laboratory. > > The DNA transplants involve chemical washes that gently clean the donor > DNA, > and other washes that make the recipient's outer membrane porous, so the > new > DNA can enter. > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto: > [log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn