Artificial Gene Synthesis

Artificial Gene Synthesis

(AGS)

As mentioned before gene synthesis is still in early stages but a possible use for it would be DNA data storage, a new, more compact way of archiving data as mentioned before in the application section.

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Although there is a lot of potential and possibilities, the process of making genes is still lengthy, inefficient and expensive. The main user of artificial gene synthesis, as of now are scientists not the general public.

This is also similar when creating pathogens, but for a different reason. It can be dangerous to conduct experiments on deadly pathogens as there may be a risk of accidentally causing an outbreak of a deadly disease. Gene synthesis minimizes that risk by allowing scientists to study different aspects of the pathogens to learn more about it and possibly create a cure.

For

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Why do we use them?

Arguments

Scientists prefer working with the rarer genes that usually only appear in the mutated verities. Obviously these would be much harder to obtain so being able to create the gene offers great benefit to scientific research.

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Advancements in gene synthesis can result in rarer genes becoming more accessible to study and continue to grow our knowledge without having the difficulty of needing to possess a copy of the gene to clone. As long as the codon sequence is known, a sample can be created to study.

My Opinion

Making genes more easily available

In my opinion I support AGS. I do not believe there is harm in letting scientists try to develop this technology. It has a lot of potential but it also gives us a better understanding. The only opposition it faces is people fearing what might happen. People have always been against change, especially major changes like genetic engineering.

The main use for gene synthesis is to make rarer genes, usually mutations, more easily available.

This gives scientist the ability to create vaccines by focusing on certain genes without having to create the disease. This is safer and also more convenient for the scientis

What is it?

www.wikipedia.com

www.cs.duke.edu

www.etcgoup.org

Artificial Gene Synthesis is the process of arranging codons to create proteins and in turn genes.

Although Wikipedia gets a lot of attention for being notoriously unreliable, it is certainly a good place to start. It allows an overview of the topic but usually requires referencing to another source to test its reliability

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There are many groups that are against all kinds of genetic modification, and AGS falls under that category. The ETC calls it "Extreme genetic engineering". They believe it is wrong to alter nature.

Duke is a reputable university so it is usually assumed that the information found there is credible. The website is also a .edu which is another sign of reliability. It can also be counted on to not be biased and display the raw facts.

The ETC group gives the facts on synthetic biology but tries to put forward its opinion on the topic as well. This is is OK as I used this for the opinion section of the project and the bias was what I was looking for.

Against

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Gene synthesis is still very new and not well publicized, so the groups apposed to it are very limited

Others believe it is wrong for religious reasons. Creationists are notorious for campaigning agaisnt man "playing god". They do not believe in life being built.

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The biggest worry for many is ethical reasons. If we can create life should we create life? Is it our right to tamper with nature.

Application

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The article in this website I used was very helpful as it examined peoples opinions and worries about genetic engineering while staying objective. The url is .gov which shows reliability.

Bibliography

How do they create proteins.

Currently there are only a few uses for AGS but with more research more could become available

If a scientist is able to replicate the codons order, they can create the desired protein.

Stanford biologist Drew Endy explains the basics of assembling genetic material in this video.

DNA Data Storage

Most significantly however, is the fact that it is possible to change up to 30% of the codons and still make an identical protein. This is demonstrated in this table

Source Analysis

This sounds like a challenging task, but it is made easier by one things. Only the open reading frame (the protein coding region of the gene, also called ORF, as shown below) is needed.

Another use, is a process called DNA digital data storage. This involves creating a DNA sequence using the base pairs to code information.

"For a typical protein sequence of 300 amino acids, there are over 10^150 codon combinations that will encode an identical protein." (Protea Vaccine Technologies Ltd. 2010)

Pros and Cons

Pros

www.biomedcentral.com

This involves creating a DNA sequence using the base pairs to code information.

It is much more compact and lasts longer than any other current form of storage like hard drives, being able to hold more than 90 terabytes per cubic millimetre and last more than 60,000 years (as seen with the woolly mammoth recently).

Cons

The drawback to this is that it is not as easily accessible, as it needs to be sequenced before being read. This would be better for archival purposes.

Extras

Protea Vaccine Technologies Ltd. 2010, unknown, unknown, available from: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_gene_synthesis>

BMC allows publication of peoples research. This means that each individual article may be different. The article I used has over 50 sources and seems to fit with my other previous knowledge. I can then assume it is credible.