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67 lines
3.8 KiB
XML
67 lines
3.8 KiB
XML
<xml><p>Desktop genetic engineering.</p>
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<p>By Kevin Kelly</p>
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<p>I spent a day recently a biotechnology trade show, snooping around the
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aisles of plumbing and lob gear to see how close we ore to having gene
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equipment that would work in a suburban garage. was looking for
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off-the-shelf components that could be assembled by a dedicated individual
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into o lob for homebrewed DNA. / was surprised by how close it has come.
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While most of the equipment for biotechnology is either delicate but
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cumbersome laboratory research instruments, or massive industrial/chemical
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plumbing for production purposes, there are o couple of items that hove
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miniaturized the research methods into o suggestive desktop space. The
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leader in self-contained DNA coding gear is Applied Biosystems. Their star
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contraption is a table-top box linked to a Macintosh computer that will
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assemble a short string of DNA from the order that you type into the Mac.
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The unit generates the DNA sequence from the some four amino acids that
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cellular DNA does. in this case the amino acids are provided in small
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bottles in the front of the box, along with bottles of solvent to drive the
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process. The DNA is outputted" into a tiny capillary tube. While the
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machine is 99.8% accurate in what it constructs, the major (and it is major)
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drawback is that it con assemble sequences that are no more than 180 units
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long, which would make one short gene, at most. (Genes, like words, vary in
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length.) Since human genes come in the order of about one billion units,
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there is a way to go in improvements. On the other hand, since the
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alteration of even one gene con make a big difference in a living organism
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(many congenital diseases are due to a single gene), there is still power in
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being able to rewrite o couple of hundred units. A complementary box made by
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Applied Biosystems works in reverse. Rather than going from code to DNA, it
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goes from DNA to code. It takes a bit of existing DNA and reads" its
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sequence out as a display on the computer - ATTCGGACA, etc., for instance.
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Not only con this verify a sequence one builds, but its main purpose is to
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unravel the genetic code encrypted in all living things. It too is severely
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limited in the amount of DNA it con handle at one time. But the task of
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deciphering chromosomes that are 5 million genes long would be o bummer
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without it. The two machines work as a pair. Both together would fit onto a
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kitchen countertop. These units by themselves are not enough to do
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biotechnology research. Sundry other hi-tech items, as well as low-tech ones
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like incubators, cold rooms and basic labware, are essential. But these two
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systems ore the heart of the hard work; they automate what was tedious and
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unpredictable toil just a few years ago. I'd guess that true basement
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biotechnology is still at least a decade away, if only because of the price
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$50,000 for each of these machines alone)aond the expertise Ph.0) needed to
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get them going. -Kevin Kelly Information from: Applied Biosystems, inc.,
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850 Lincoln Center Drive, Foster City, CA 94404.</p>
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<p> Another file downloaded from: NIRVANAnet(tm)</p>
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</p></xml> |