‘A very long time ago on our distant planet, we had reached a level of technical and scientific knowledge, comparable to that which you will soon reach. Our scientists had started to create primitive, embryonic forms of life, namely living cells in test tubes. Everyone was thrilled by this.’
(The Book Which Tells The Truth, Chapter 2, Genesis)


This work was made possible thanks to the plummeting costs of both DNA sequencing and DNA synthesis (the reading and writing of DNA), as well as technological advances allowing the synthesis and assembly of increasingly longer DNA fragments.


Obviously, the first synthetic bacterium was just a first step in creating new life forms. In the long term, this new technology has the potential to lead to an explosion of exciting new achievements at the service of humanity, such as the creation of new forms of animal pets and even biological robots.
Suggested videos:
TED - Craig Venter unveils "synthetic life"
CBS - J. Craig Venter: Designing Life
Scientific references:
Gibson, D. G., Glass, J. I., et al.
Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome
Science. 2010 Jul 02; 329(5987): 52-6.
Gibson, D. G., Benders, G. A., et al.
Complete Chemical Synthesis, Assembly, and Cloning of a Mycoplasma genitalium Genome
Science. 2008 Jan 24; 319(5867): 1215-20.
Lartigue, C., Glass, J. I., et al.
Genome Transplantation In Bacteria: Changing One Species to Another
Science. 2007 Aug 03; 317(5838): 632-8.
Smith, H. O., Hutchison, C. A., 3rd, et al.
Generating a Synthetic Genome by Whole Genome Assembly: PhiX174 Bacteriophage from Synthetic Oligonucleotides
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Dec 23; 100(26): 15440-5.