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Mycoplasma laboratorium

Mycoplasma laboratorium
Mycoplasma laboratorium is a planned partially synthetic species of bacterium derived from the genome of Mycoplasma genitalium. This effort in synthetic biology is being undertaken at the J. Craig Venter Institute by a team of approximately twenty scientists headed by Nobel laureate Hamilton Smith, and including DNA researcher Craig Venter and microbiologist Clyde A. Hutchison III.

Mycoplasma
Mycoplasma is a genus of bacteria of the class Mollicutes in the division Tenericutes, characterised by the lack of a cell wall (making it Gram negative) due to their parasitic or commensal lifestyle (extracellular and intracellular). In molecular biology, the genus has received much attention. Apart from being a notorious and hard to eradicate (immune to beta-lactam and other antibiotics) contaminant in mammalian cell cultures,[1] It has also been used as a model organism: the second published complete bacterial genome sequence was that of Mycoplasma genitalium, which has one of the smallest genomes of free-living organisms.[2] The M.pneumoniae genome sequence was published soon afterward and was the first genome sequence determined by primer walking of a cosmid library instead of the whole-genome shotgun method.[3] Consequently this species was chosen as a model for the minimal cell project,[4] catalog the entire protein content of a cell.[5] Pelagibacter ubique (an -proteobacterion of the order Rickettsiales) has the smallest known genome (1,308,759 base pairs) of any free living organism and is one of the smallest self-replicating cells known. It is possibly the most numerous bacterion in the world (perhaps 1028 individual cells) and, along with other members of the SAR11 clade, are estimated to make up between a quarter and a half of all bacterial or archaeal cells in the ocean.[6] However, this species was identified only in 2002 by rRNA sequences and was fully sequenced in 2005,[7] being an extremely hard to cultivate species which does not reach a high growth density,[8] [9] therefore mycoplasma are used as a tool instead due to their ease and speed of growth. Additionally, as of November 2010, there are 1363 sequenced prokaryotic genomes in NCBI and 4 newly discovered species have less genes than M. genitalium, but many essential genes are missing in Hodgkinia cicadicola , Sulcia muelleri, Baumannia cicadellinicola (symbionts of cicadas) and Carsonella ruddi (symbiote of hackberry petiole gall psyllid, Pachypsylla venusta[10] ) may be encoded in the host nucleus.[11]
species name Candidatus Hodgkinia cicadicola Dsem [12] Candidatus Carsonella ruddii PV [13] Candidatus Sulcia muelleri GWSS [14] Candidatus Sulcia muelleri SMDSEM [15] Buchnera aphidicola str. Cinara cedri [16] Mycoplasma genitalium G37[17] Candidatus Phytoplasma mali [18] number of genes 169 182 227 242 357 475 479 size (Mbp) 0.14 0.16 0.25 0.28 0.4261 0.58 0.6 0.6224 0.49

Buchnera aphidicola str. Baizongia pistaciae [19] 504 Nanoarchaeum equitans Kin4-M [20] 540

Mycoplasma laboratorium

Minimal genome project

The team started with the bacterium M. genitalium, an obligate intracellular parasite whose genome consists of 482 genes comprising 582,970 base pairs, arranged on one circular chromosome (the smallest genome of any known natural organism that can be grown in free culture). They then systematically removed genes to find a minimal set of 382 genes that can sustain life.[21] This effort was also known as the Minimal Genome Project. The team intends to synthesize chromosome DNA sequences consisting of these 382 genes. Once a version of the minimal 382-gene chromosome has been synthesized, it is intended to be transplanted into a M. genitalium cell to create M. laboratorium. The resulting M. laboratorium bacterium is expected to be able to replicate itself with its man-made DNA, making it the most synthetic organism to date, although the molecular machinery and chemical environment that would allow it to replicate would not be synthetic.[22] In December 2003, the team had reported a fast method of synthesizing a genome from scratch, producing the 5386-base genome of the bacteriophage Phi X 174 in about two weeks.[23] However, the genome of M. laboratorium is about 50 times larger. In January 2008, the team reported to have synthesized the complete 582,970 base pair chromosome of M. genitalium, with small modifications so that it won't be infectious and can be distinguished from the wild type. They named this genome Mycoplasma genitalium JCVI-1.0.[24] [25] The team had also demonstrated the process of transplanting a (non-synthetic) genome from one Mycoplasma species to another in June 2007.[26] In May 2010 they showed that they were able to synthesize the 1,200,000 base pair genome of Mycoplasma mycoides from scratch and transplant it into a Mycoplasma capricolum cell; the new genome then took over the cell and the new organism multiplied.[27] The new organism was nicknamed Synthia. The J. Craig Venter Institute filed patents for the Mycoplasma laboratorium genome (the "minimal bacterial genome") in the U.S. and internationally in 2006.[28] [29] [30] This extension of the domain of biological patents is being challenged by the watchdog organization Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration.[31] Venter hopes to eventually synthesize bacteria to manufacture hydrogen and biofuels, and also to absorb carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. George Church, another pioneer in synthetic biology, holds that E. coli is a more efficient organism than M. genitalium and that creating a fully synthetic genome is not necessary and too costly for such tasks; he points out that synthetic genes have already been incorporated into E.coli to perform some of the above tasks.[25] On June 28, 2007, a team at the J. Craig Venter Institute published an article in Science Express, saying that they had successfully transplanted the natural DNA from a Mycoplasma mycoides bacterium into a Mycoplasma capricolum cell, creating a bacterium which behaved like a M. mycoides.[32] On Oct 6, 2007, Craig Venter announced in an interview with UK's The Guardian newspaper that the same team had synthesized a modified version of the single chromosome of Mycoplasma genitalium using chemicals. The chromosome was modified to eliminate all genes which tests in live bacteria had shown to be unnecessary. The next planned step in this minimal genome project is to transplant the synthesized minimal genome into a bacterial cell with its old DNA removed; the resulting bacterium will be called Mycoplasma laboratorium. The next day the Canadian bioethics group, ETC Group issued a statement through their representative, Pat Mooney, saying Venter's "creation" was "a chassis on which you could build almost anything". The synthesized genome had not yet been transplanted into a working cell.[33] On May 21, 2010, Science reported that the Venter group had successfully synthesized the genome of the bacterium Mycoplasma mycoides from a computer record, and transplanted the synthesized genome into the existing cell of a Mycoplasma capricolum bacterium that had had its DNA removed. The "synthetic" bacterium was viable, i.e. capable of replicating billions of times. The team had originally planned to use the M. genitalium bacterium they had previously been working with, but switched to M. mycoides because the latter bacterium grows much faster, which translated into quicker experiments.[34] Venter describes it as "the first species.... to have its parents be a computer".[35] The transformed bacterium is dubbed "Synthia" by ETC. A Venter spokesperson has declined to

Mycoplasma laboratorium confirm any breakthrough at the time of this writing, likely because similar genetic introduction techniques such as transfection, transformation, transduction and protofection have been a standard research practice for many years. Now that the technique has been proven to work with the M. mycoides genome, the next project is presumably to go back to the minimized M. genitalium and transplant it into a cell to create the previously mentioned M. laboratorium.

Bacterial genome transplantation

In order to propagate a synthetic genome the technique to transplant an intact whole bacterial genome into another had to be developed. Oswal Avery's pioneering experiments in the 1940s showed that some bacteria could taken up naked DNA[36] and with the advent of molecular cloning techniques DNA elements could be transformed into competent cells, typically cloning vectors, around 5-20 kbp long, and even bacterial artificial chromosomes can be maintained. In 2007, Venter's team reported that they had managed to transfer the chromosome of one species, Mycoplasma mycoides to Mycoplasma capricolum by means of: isolating the genome of M. mycoides: gentle lysis of cells trapped in agar molten agar mixed with cells and let to gelled, followed by pulse field gel electroporation and the band of the correct size (circular 1.25Mbp) being isolated. making the recipient cells of M. capricolum competent: growth in rich media followed starvation in poor media where the nucleotide starvation results in inhibition of DNA replication and change of morphology. polyethylene glycol-mediated transformation of the circular chromosome to the DNA-free cells followed by selection.[37] The term transformation is used to refer to insertion of a vector into a bacterial cell (by electroporation or heatshock), here transplantation is used akin to nuclear transplantation. The switch from M.genitalium to M.mycoides was spurred due to the faster growth of the latter [38]

Bacterial chromosome synthesis

It is possible to create DNA sequences chemically (Oligonucleotide synthesis) which is achieved by successive rounds of deprotection and coupling of protected phosphoramidite nucleotides with geometrically decreasing yields to length, making sequences longer than 1kb unfeasible. For longer sequences, DNA ligation is required. In 2008 Venter's group published a paper showing that they had managed to create a synthetic genome (a copy of M. mycoides sequence CP001621 [39]) by means of a hierarchical strategy. [24] : Synthesis ->1kbp: The genome sequence was synthesised by Blue Heron [40] in 1078 1080bp cassettes with 80bp overlap and NotI restriction sites (inefficient but rare cutter). Ligation -> 10kbp: 109 Groups of a series of 10 consecutive cassettes were ligatated and cloned in E.coli on a plasmid and the correct permutation checked by sequencing, this would follow a geometric distribution with expected number of trials of 10. Multiplex PCR -> 100kbp: 11 Groups of a series of 10 consecutive 10kbp assemblies (grown in yeast) were joined by multiplex PCR, using a primer pair for each 10kbp assembly. Isolation and recombination -> secondary assemblies were isolated by means of the plug method above and joining and transformed into yeast spheroplasts without a vector sequence (present in assembly 811-900).

Mycoplasma laboratorium

Synthetic genome
In 2010, using the methods described above Venter and colleagues created a strain of Mycoplasma mycoides called JCVI-syn1.0, with a synthetic genome.[41] Initially the synthetic construct did not work so to pin point the error which caused a delay of 3 months in the whole project[38] a series of semi-synthetic constructs were created given the fact than the natural genome worked, the cause of the failed growth was an frameshift mutation in DnaA, an replication initiation factor, which once corrected worked and was verified.[41] The construction of a cell with a synthetic genome was done to test the methodology in order to allow more modified genomes to be created in future, consequently to minimise sources of failure the genome was created using a natural genome as a template. Due to the large size of a genome, apart from the elements required for propagation in yeast and residues from restriction sites, several differences are present in Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0 notably an E.coli transposon IS1 (an infection from the 10kb stage) and an 85bp duplication.[41] However, the project has received heavy criticism as it claims to the press to have created a synthetic organisms, given the fact that the genome, was synthesized chemically in many pieces (a synthetic method) and joined together by means of molecular biological techniques (an artificial method), and transplanted into the cytoplasm of a natural cell (after a few generations, though, the original protein content is undetectable). The two species used as donor and recipient are of the same genus as the more distant two species are, the less the correct protein interactions are maintained, such as binding factors and binding sites, which mutate together (epistasis),[42] consequently, Paul Keim (a molecular geneticist at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff) notes that "there are great challenges ahead before genetic engineers can mix match, and fully design an organism's genome from scratch" [38] due to this issue. DNA is the template for protein construction and requires protein to do so, a chicken-and-egg conundrum solved by the RNA world hypothesis, consequently synthetic naked DNA would require several protein to kick start a viable cell. In 2002 a team lead by E Wimmer synthesised a replication poliovirus (one of the largest viruses),[43] viruses, however, duplicate by disabling and utilising host protein expression machinery. Furthermore, whereas DNA can easily be amplified (PCR using Taq polymerase), ligated (ligase) and transcribed (T4 polymerase), current in vitro translation kits utilise yeast extracts and a cell wall cannot be synthesised ex novo not even in a water-in-oil emulsion. An interesting parallel of the requirement of protein to kickstart a cell's DNA is in mathematical models of the cell cycle in mathematical biology, which, as they rely on a systems of ordinary differential equations to model the cell cycle, require initial conditions to be set, which if not within the robustness range of the strain (wild-type or multant) do not allow it to survive.[44]

Watermarks
A much publicised feature of the M. laboratorium is the presence of watermark sequences as an ultimate proof of the achievement and as a publicity stunt it's a common tradition in the semiconductor industry to have latin inscriptions in unused portions of the microchip, visible only by electron microscopy. The 4 watermarks (present in figure 1 in supplementary material of [41] ) are coded messages in the form of DNA base pairs, of 1246, 1081, 1109 and 1222 base pairs respectively, in natural peptides the 4 nucleotides encode in sets of 3 the 20 natural amino acids by means of the universal genetic code. Each amino acid by convention is represented by a letter, but in nature there is nothing which ties Alanine, a molecule, to the latin letter A, a vowel, so this convention was disregarded in the latter watermarks. In the minimal genome organism the watermark were encoded as amino acids, with V as U, both in reference to Latin inscriptions (U started to appear only in carolingian manuscripts) and the lack of a standard amino acid for U (selenocysteine is U but is non-standardly encoded) containing the names of the researchers: VENTERINSTITVTE CRAIGVENTER HAMSMITH CINDIANDCLYDE GLASSANDCLYDE

Mycoplasma laboratorium In the synthetic organism, instead the Latin alphabet which in English has 26 letters, which is covered only in base 4 with 3 or more digits was encoded by a undisclosed encoding. The encoding is fixed and 3 digits make an uppercase letter or Ascii symbol, possibly randomly allocated (not Ascii table, frequency or keyboard order).[45] The content of the watermarks is as follows: 1. watermark 1 an Html script which reads to a browser as text congratulating the decoder with an email link (mroqstiz@jcvi.org) to click to prove the decoding. 2. watermark 2 contains a list of authors and a quote from James Joyce: "To live to err, to fall, to triumph, to recreate life out of life". 3. watermark 3 contains more authors and a quote from Robert Oppenheimer (uncredited): "See things not as they are, but as they might be". 4. watermark 4 contains yet more authors and a quote from Richard Feynman: "What I cannot build, I cannot understand".

Concerns and controversy

Press coverage The main controversy from the project is the undue amount of publicity it received from the press due to Venter's showmanship, to the degree that Jay Keasling, a pioneering synthetic biologist and founder of Amyris says The only regulation we need is of my colleagues mouth.[46] The Vatican has not condemmed the discovery, but claims it is not a new life [47] Cost It is estimated that the synthetic genome cost US$40 million and took 20 people more than a decade of work.,[38] despite the controversy, Venter has attracted over $110 million in investments so far for Synthetic Genomics, with a future deal with Exxon Mobil of $300 million in research to design algae for diesel fuel[46] Utility Despite the funding for practical applications, as stressed by George Church, one of the main players in the field of synthetic biology, a few changes are required to obtain useful organisms now, such as biofuel production or bioremediation.[46] However, speculation of the distant future possible application is rife. Venter himself is prone to such speculations such as What if we can make algae taste like beef?.[46] If it were possible to create a synthetic cell without the use of preexisting recipient cells, however, many applications would be achievable which would be otherwise unattainable, such as a completely overhauled bacterium that works in a logically controlled way, removing what has been described as 'evolutionary messiness'[48] with lower mutation rates, categorical gene arrangement (colinearity), with adding novel nucleotides to increase encoding, a feat achieved in vitro (PCR) or with a completely novel genetic code, such as has been achieved by experiments in which a few additional non-canonical amino acids were added. Bioterrorism and bioterror Craig Venter has funded ethical studies, but has been criticised by scientists for over-dramatising the risks of bioerror or bioterrorism,[38] which are misunderstood by the general public. One argument regarding bioterrorism is in regards to smallpox, which could be synthesised and insertion into existing related pox viruses could theoretically be used to recreate the virus, which has been completely eradicated, except for in two BSL-4 laboratories and digital genomes.[49] Most countries stopped vaccination programs for smallpox by the late 1970s, making a major part of the current world population susceptible to the virus.[49] However, just like the 2001 anthrax attacks, the SARS virus, Ebola scares in the west or other outbreaks scares the damages would be in reality limited and quickly contained.

Mycoplasma laboratorium

Similar projects
A team at the Hungarian Academy of Science, created a strain of Escherichia coli called MDS42 and sold under the name of "clean genome" [50], where 15% of the genome of the parental strain (E. coli K-12 MG1655 ) were removed to aim in molecular biology efficiency, removing IS elements, pseudogenes and phages, resulting in better maintenance of plasmid-encoded toxic genes, which are often inactivated by transposons. [51] (biochemistry and replication machinery were not altered)

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Mycoplasma laboratorium
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Popular press

External links
J. Craig Venter Institute: Research Groups (http://www.jcvi.org/research/) NCBI prokaryotic genome database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genomes/lproks.cgi)

Mycoplasma
Mycoplasma Scientific classification Kingdom: Bacteria Phylum: Class: Order: Family: Genus: Tenericutes or Firmicutes Mollicutes Mycoplasmatales Mycoplasmataceae Mycoplasma Nowak 1929 Species M. gallisepticum M. genitalium M. hominis M. hyopneumoniae M. laboratorium M. ovipneumoniae M. pneumoniae etc.

Mycoplasmosis
Classification and external resources ICD-10 ICD-9 A49.3 041.81 [1]

Mycoplasma is a genus of bacteria that lack a cell wall.[2] Without a cell wall, they are unaffected by many common antibiotics such as penicillin or other beta-lactam antibiotics that target cell wall synthesis. They can be parasitic or saprotrophic. Several species are pathogenic in humans, including M. pneumoniae, which is an important cause of atypical pneumonia and other respiratory disorders, and M. genitalium, which is believed to be involved in pelvic inflammatory diseases.

Mycoplasma

Origin of the name

The name Mycoplasma, from the Greek mykes (fungus) and plasma (formed), was first used by A. B. Frank in 1889. He thought it was a fungus, due to fungus-like characteristics .[3] An older name for Mycoplasma was Pleuropneumonia-Like Organisms (PPLO), referring to organisms similar to the causative agent of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP).[4] It was later found that the fungus-like growth pattern of M. mycoides is unique to that species.

Characteristics
There are over 100 recognized species of the genus Mycoplasma, one of several genera within the bacterial class Mollicutes. Mollicutes are parasites or commensals of humans, other animals (including insects), and plants; the genus Mycoplasma is by definition restricted to vertebrate hosts. Cholesterol is required for the growth of species of the genus Mycoplasma as well as certain other genera of mollicutes. Their optimum growth temperature is often the temperature of their host if warmbodied (e. g. 37 C in humans) or ambient temperature if the host is unable to regulate its own internal temperature. Analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA sequences as well as gene content strongly suggest that the mollicutes, including the mycoplasmas, are closely related to either the Lactobacillus or the Clostridium branch of the phylogenetic tree (Firmicutes sensu stricto).

Cell morphology
The bacteria of the genus Mycoplasma (trivial name: mycoplasmas) and their close relatives are characterized by lack of a cell wall. Despite this, the cells often present a certain shape, with a characteristic small size, with typically about 10% of the volume of an Escherichia coli cell. These cell shapes presumably contribute to the ability of mycoplasmas to thrive in their respective environments. Most are pseudococcoidal, but there are notable exceptions. Species of the M. fastidiosum cluster are rod-shaped. Species of the M. pneumoniae cluster, including M. pneumoniae, possess a polar extension protruding from the pseudococcoidal cell body. This tip structure, designated an attachment organelle or terminal organelle, is essential for adherence to host cells and for movement along solid surfaces (gliding motility), and is implicated in normal cell division. M. pneumoniae cells are pleomorphic, with an attachment organelle of regular dimensions at one pole and a trailing filament of variable length and uncertain function at the other end, whereas other species in the cluster typically lack the trailing filament. Other species like M. mobile and M. pulmonis have similar structures with similar functions. Mycoplasmas are unusual among bacteria in that most require sterols for the stability of their cytoplasmic membrane. Sterols are acquired from the environment, usually as cholesterol from the animal host. Mycoplasmas generally possess a relatively small genome of 0.58-1.38 megabases, which results in drastically reduced biosynthetic capabilities and explains their dependence on a host. Additionally they use an alternate genetic code where the codon UGA is encoding for the amino acid tryptophan instead of the usual opal stop codon. They have a low GC-content (23-40 mol %).

Mycoplasma

10

First isolation
In 1898 Nocard and Roux reported the cultivation of the causative agent of CBPP, which was at that time a grave and widespread disease in cattle herds. [5] [6] The disease is caused by M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC (small-colony type), and the work of Nocard and Roux represented the first isolation of a mycoplasma species. Cultivation was, and still is difficult because of the complex growth requirements. These researchers succeeded by inoculating a semi-permeable pouch of sterile medium with pulmonary fluid from an infected animal and depositing this pouch intraperitoneally into a live rabbit. After fifteen to twenty days, the fluid inside of the recovered pouch was opaque, indicating the growth of a microorganism. Opacity of the fluid was not seen in the control. This turbid broth could then be used to inoculate a second and third round and subsequently introduced into a healthy animal, causing disease. However, this did not work if the material was heated, indicating a biological agent at work. Uninoculated media in the pouch, after removal from the rabbit, could be used to grow the organism in vitro, demonstrating the possibility of cell-free cultivation and ruling out viral causes, although this was not fully appreciated at the time (Nocard and Roux, 1890).

Small genome
Recent advances in molecular biology and genomics have brought the genetically simple mycoplasmas, particularly M. pneumoniae and its close relative M. genitalium, to a larger audience. The second published complete bacterial genome sequence was that of M. genitalium, which has one of the smallest genomes of free-living organisms.[7] The M. pneumoniae genome sequence was published soon afterwards and was the first genome sequence determined by primer walking of a cosmid library instead of the whole-genome shotgun method.[8] Mycoplasma genomics and proteomics continue in efforts to understand the so-called minimal cell,[9] catalog the entire protein content of a cell,[10] and generally continue to take advantage of the small genome of these organisms to understand broad biological concepts.

Taxonomy
The medical and agricultural importance of members of the genus Mycoplasma and related genera has led to the extensive cataloging of many of these organisms by culture, serology, and small subunit rRNA gene and whole genome sequencing. A recent focus in the sub-discipline of molecular phylogenetics has both clarified and confused certain aspects of the organization of the class Mollicutes.[11] Originally the trivial name "mycoplasmas" has commonly denoted all members of the class Mollicutes. The name "Mollicutes" is derived from the Latin mollis (soft) and cutes (skin), and all of these bacteria do lack a cell wall and the genetic capability to synthesize peptidoglycan. Now Mycoplasma is a genus in Mollicutes. Despite the lack of a cell wall, many taxonomists have classified Mycoplasma and relatives in the phylum Firmicutes, consisting of low G+C Gram-positive bacteria such as Clostridium, Lactobacillus, and Streptococcus based on 16S rRNA gene analysis. The order Mycoplasmatales contains a single family, Mycoplasmataceae, comprising two genera: Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma. Historically, the description of a bacterium lacking a cell wall was sufficient to classify it to the genus Mycoplasma and as such it is the oldest and largest genus of the class with about half of the class' species (107 validly described), each usually limited to a specific host and with many hosts harboring more than one species, some pathogenic and some commensal. In later studies, many of these species were found to be phylogenetically distributed among at least three separate orders. A limiting criterion for inclusion within the genus Mycoplasma is that the organism have a vertebrate host. In fact, the type species, M. mycoides, along with other significant mycoplasma species like M. capricolum, is evolutionarily more closely related to the genus Spiroplasma in the order Entomoplasmatales than to the other members of the Mycoplasma genus. This and other discrepancies will likely remain unresolved because of the extreme confusion that

Mycoplasma change could engender among the medical and agricultural communities. The remaining species in the genus Mycoplasma are divided into three non-taxonomic groups, hominis, pneumoniae and fermentans, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. The hominis group contains the phylogenetic clusters of M. bovis, M. pulmonis, and M. hominis, among others. M. hyopneumoniae is a primary bacterial agent of the porcine respiratory disease complex. The pneumoniae group contains the clusters of M. muris, M. fastidiosum, U. urealyticum, the currently unculturable haemotrophic mollicutes, informally referred to as haemoplasmas (recently transferred from the genera Haemobartonella and Eperythrozoon), and the M. pneumoniae cluster. This cluster contains the species (and the usual or likely host) M. alvi (bovine), M. amphoriforme (human), M. gallisepticum (avian), M. genitalium (human), M. imitans (avian), M. pirum (uncertain/human), M. testudinis (tortoises), and M. pneumoniae (human). Most if not all of these species share some otherwise unique characteristics including an attachment organelle, homologs of the M. pneumoniae cytadherence-accessory proteins, and specialized modifications of the cell division apparatus.

11

Laboratory contaminant
Mycoplasma species are often found in research laboratories as contaminants in cell culture. Mycoplasmal cell culture contamination occurs due to contamination from individuals or contaminated cell culture medium ingredients. Mycoplasma cells are physically small less than 1m and they are therefore difficult to detect with a conventional microscope. Mycoplasmas may induce cellular changes, including chromosome aberrations, changes in metabolism and cell growth. Severe Mycoplasma infections may destroy a cell line. Detection techniques include DNA Probe, enzyme immunoassays, PCR, plating on sensitive agar and staining with a DNA stain including DAPI or Hoechst. It has been estimated that at least 11 to 15% of U.S. laboratory cells cultures are contaminated with mycoplasma.(by whom?) A Corning study showed that half of U.S. scientists did not test for mycoplasma contamination in their cell cultures. The study also stated that, in Czechoslovakia, 100% of cell cultures that were not routinely tested were contaminated while only 2% of those routinely tested were contaminated. (study page 6) Since the U.S. contamination rate was based on a study of companies that routinely checked for mycoplasma, the actual contamination rate may be higher. European contamination rates are higher and that of other countries are higher still (up to 80% of Japanese cell cultures).[12]

First synthetic genome synthesized

On 20 May 2010, Gibson et al. reported that they had created the first synthetic genome of a mycoplasmal cell.[13]

References
[1] http:/ / www. icd9data. com/ getICD9Code. ashx?icd9=041. 81 [2] Ryan KJ, Ray CG (editors) (2004). Sherris Medical Microbiology (4th ed.). McGraw Hill. pp.40912. ISBN0838585299. [3] Conrad J. Krass and Max W. Gardner Etymology of the Term Mycoplasma (http:/ / ijs. sgmjournals. org/ cgi/ reprint/ 23/ 1/ 62. pdf) Int. J. of Syst. Bact.; Jan 1973, p. 62-64; Vol. 23, No. 1 [4] Edward DG, Freundt EA (February 1956). "The classification and nomenclature of organisms of the pleuropneumonia group". J. Gen. Microbiol. 14 (1): 197207. PMID13306904.pdf (http:/ / mic. sgmjournals. org/ cgi/ reprint/ 14/ 1/ 197. pdf) [5] Nocard, E.I.E. & Roux, E.; Le microbe de la pripneumonie. Ann Inst Pasteur 12, 240-262. (Translated as The microbe of pleuropneumonia in Rev Infect Dis 12, 354-358 (1990)) [6] Hayflick L. & Chanock, R.M. (1965). "Mycoplasma Species of Man" (http:/ / mmbr. asm. org/ cgi/ reprint/ 29/ 2/ 185. pdf). Bacteriol. Reviews 29 (2): 185221. . [7] Fraser CM, Gocayne JD, White O, et al. (October 1995). "The minimal gene complement of Mycoplasma genitalium" (http:/ / www. sciencemag. org/ cgi/ pmidlookup?view=long& pmid=7569993). Science (journal) 270 (5235): 397403. doi:10.1126/science.270.5235.397. PMID7569993. . [8] Himmelreich R, Hilbert H, Plagens H, Pirkl E, Li BC, Herrmann R (November 1996). pmid=8948633 "Complete sequence analysis of the genome of the bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae" (http:/ / nar. oxfordjournals. org/ cgi/ pmidlookup?view=long& ). Nucleic Acids Res. 24

Mycoplasma
(22): 442049. doi:10.1093/nar/24.22.4420. PMID8948633. PMC146264. pmid=8948633. [9] Hutchison CA, Montague MG (2002). "Mycoplasmas and the minimal genome concept". Molecular Biology and Pathogenicity of Mycoplasmas (Razin S, Herrmann R, eds.). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum. pp.22154. ISBN0306472872. [10] Regula JT, Ueberle B, Boguth G, et al. (November 2000). "Towards a two-dimensional proteome map of Mycoplasma pneumoniae". Electrophoresis 21 (17): 376580. doi:10.1002/1522-2683(200011)21:17<3765::AID-ELPS3765>3.0.CO;2-6. PMID11271496. [11] Johansson K-E, Pettersson B (2002). "Taxonomy of Mollicutes". Molecular Biology and Pathogenicity of Mycoplasmas (Razin S, Herrmann R, eds.). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum. pp.130. ISBN0306472872. [12] John Ryan (2008). "Understanding and Managing Cell Culture Contamination" (http:/ / catalog2. corning. com/ Lifesciences/ media/ pdf/ cccontamination. pdf). Corning Incorporated. pp.24. . [13] Daniel G. Gibson, John I. Glass, Carole Lartigue, Vladimir N. Noskov, Ray-Yuan Chuang, Mikkel A. Algire, Gwynedd A. Benders, Michael G. Montague, Li Ma, Monzia M. Moodie, Chuck Merryman, Sanjay Vashee, Radha Krishnakumar, Nacyra Assad-Garcia, Cynthia Andrews-Pfannkoch, Evgeniya A. Denisova, Lei Young, Zhi-Qing Qi, Thomas H. Segall-Shapiro, Christopher H. Calvey, Prashanth P. Parmar, Clyde A. Hutchison, III, Hamilton O. Smith, J. Craig Venter (2010). "Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome" (http:/ / www. sciencemag. org/ cgi/ content/ abstract/ science. 1190719). Science (sciencemag.org) 329 (5987): 526. doi:10.1126/science.1190719. PMID20488990. .

12

External links
Compare (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cell_Biology/Introduction/Cell_size) the size of these small bacteria to the sizes of other cells and viruses. MedPix(r)Images (http://rad.usuhs.mil/medpix/medpix.html?mode=slide_sorter&pt_id=12564#top) Mycoplasma Pneumonia Ureaplasma Infection: eMedicine Infectious Diseases (http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/ 231470-overview)

Craig Venter

13

Craig Venter
J. Craig Venter

Craig Venter in 2007 Born Institutions October 14, 1946Salt Lake City, Utah, USA State University of New York at Buffalo National Institutes of Health J. Craig Venter Institute University of California, San Diego DNA Human genome Metagenomics Synthetic genomics Shotgun approach to genome sequencing

Alma mater Knownfor

Notable awards Kistler Prize (2008), ENI award (2008), National Medal of Science (2008)

John Craig Venter (born October 14, 1946) is an American biologist and entrepreneur, most famous for his role in being one of the first to sequence the human genome[1] and for his role in creating the first cell with a synthetic genome in 2010.[2] [3] Venter founded Celera Genomics, The Institute for Genomic Research and the J. Craig Venter Institute, now working at the latter to create synthetic biological organisms and to document genetic diversity in the world's oceans. He was listed on Time magazine's 2007 and 2008 Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In 2010, the British magazine New Statesman listed Craig Venter at 14th in the list of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010".[4]

Early life
Venter was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. In his youth, he did not take his education seriously, preferring to spend his time on the water in boats or surfing. According to his biography, A Life Decoded, he was said to never be a terribly engaged student, having Cs and Ds on his eighth-grade report cards.[5] According to Time Magazine, it was not always evident that Venter would become a transformative figure, particularly when he was a boy. Although he was against the Vietnam War,[6] Venter was drafted and enlisted in the United States Navy where he worked in the intensive-care ward of a field hospital.[7] While in Vietnam, he attempted to commit suicide by swimming out to sea, but changed his mind more than a mile out.[8] Being confronted with wounded, maimed, and dying soldiers on a daily basis instilled in him a desire to study medicine[9] although he later switched to scientific medical research.

Craig Venter

14

Education
Venter graduated from Mills High School and began his college career at a community college, College of San Mateo in California. He received his B.S. degree in biochemistry in 1972, and his Ph.D. degree in physiology and pharmacology in 1975, both from the University of California, San Diego. At UCSD, he studied under biochemist Nathan O. Kaplan,[10] and married former Ph.D. candidate Barbara Rae.[11] [12] [13] [14] After working as an associate professor, and later as full professor, at the State University of New York at Buffalo, he joined the National Institutes of Health in 1984. In Buffalo, he divorced Dr. Rae-Venter and married his student, Claire M. Fraser,[12] remaining married to her until 2005.[15]

Discovery
While at the NIH, Venter learned of a technique for rapidly identifying all of the mRNAs present in a cell and began to use it to identify human brain genes. The short cDNA sequence fragments discovered by this method are called expressed sequence tags (ESTs) a name coined by Anthony Kerlavage at The Institute for Genomic Research. The NIH initially led an effort to patent these gene fragments, in which Venter coincidentally and controversially became involved.[16] The NIH later withdrew the patent applications, following public outcry. Subsequent court cases declared that ESTs were not directly patentable.[17]

Human Genome Project

Venter was passionate about the power of genomics to radically transform healthcare. Venter believed that shotgun sequencing was the fastest and most effective way to get useful human genome data.[18] The method was controversial, however, since some geneticists felt it would not be accurate enough for a genome as complicated as that of humans.[19] Frustrated with what Venter viewed as the slow pace of progress in the Human Genome project, and unable to get funds for his ideas, he sought funding from the private sector to fund Celera Genomics.[20] The goal of the company was to sequence the entire human genome and release it into the public domain for non-commercial use in much less time and for much less cost than the public human genome project. The company planned to monetize their work by creating a value-added database of genomic data to which users could subscribe for a fee. The goal consequently put pressure on the public genome program and spurred several groups to redouble their efforts to produce the full sequence. DNA from five demographically different individuals was used by Celera to generate the sequence of the human genome; one of the individuals was Venter himself. In 2000, Venter and Francis Collins of the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Public Genome Project jointly made the announcement of the mapping of the human genome in 2000, a full three years ahead of the expected end of the Public Genome Program. The announcement was made along with US President Bill Clinton, and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.[21] Venter and Collins thus shared an award for "Biography of the Year" from A&E Network.[22] Celera published the first Human Genome in the journal Science, and was soon followed by a Human Genome Project Publication in Nature.[23] [24] Despite some claims that shotgun sequencing was in some ways less accurate than the clone-by-clone method chosen by the Human Genome Project,[25] the technique became widely accepted by the scientific community and is still the de facto standard used today. Although Celera was originally set to sequence a composite of DNA samples, partway through the sequencing, Venter switched the samples for his own DNA.[26] After contributing to the Human Genome, and its release into the public domain, Venter was fired by Celera in early 2002.[27] According to his biography, Venter was ready to leave Celera, and was fired due to conflict with the main investor, Tony White, that had existed since day one of the project. Venter writes that his main goal was always to accelerate science and thereby discovery, and he only sought help from the corporate world when he couldn't find funding in the public sector.

Craig Venter

15

Ocean sampling
The Global Ocean Sampling Expedition (GOS) is an ocean exploration genome project with the goal of assessing the genetic diversity in marine microbial communities and to understand their role in nature's fundamental processes. Begun as a Sargasso Sea pilot sampling project in August 2003,Craig Venter announced the full Expedition on 4 March 2004. The project, which used Craig Venter's personal yacht, Sorcerer II, started in Halifax,Canada, circumnavigated the globe and returned to the U.S. in January 2006.[28]

Current work
Venter is currently the president of the J. Craig Venter Institute, which conducts research in synthetic biology. In June 2005, he co-founded Synthetic Genomics, a firm dedicated to using modified microorganisms to produce clean fuels and biochemicals. In July 2009, ExxonMobil announced a $600 million collaboration with Synthetic Genomics to research and develop next-generation biofuels.[29] Venter is a member of the USA Science and Engineering Festival's Advisory Board.[30]

Media coverage
Venter has been the subject of articles in several magazines, including Wired,[31] The Economist,[32] Australian science magazine Cosmos,[33] [34] and The Atlantic.[35] Additionally, he was featured on The Colbert Report on both February 27, 2007, and October 30, 2007. Venter appeared in the "Evolution" episode of the documentary television series Understanding. On May 16, 2004, Venter gave the commencement speech at Boston University.[36] In a 2007 interview with New Scientist when asked "Assuming you can make synthetic bacteria, what will you do with them?", Venter replied: Over the next 20 years, synthetic genomics is going to become the standard for making anything. The chemical industry will depend on it. Hopefully, a large part of the energy industry will depend on it. We really need to find an alternative to taking carbon out of the ground, burning it, and putting it into the atmosphere. That is the single biggest contribution I could make. Furthermore it suggests that one of the main purposes for creating synthetic bacteria would be to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels through bioremediation.[37] On May 10, 2007, Venter was awarded an honorary doctorate from Arizona State University.,[38] and on October 24 of the same year, he received an honorary doctorate from Imperial College London.[39] He was on the 2007 Time 100 most influential people in the world list made by Time magazine. In 2007 he also received the Golden Eurydice Award for contributions to Biophilosophy. On September 4, 2007, a team led by Venter published the first complete (six-billion-letter) genome of an individual human Venter's own DNA sequence.[40] When on BBC News on October 22, 2007, when asked about his religious view he replied that he thought that a true scientist could not believe in supernatural explanations. On December 4, 2007, Venter gave the Dimbleby lecture for the BBC in London. He outlined his current work and future developments in genetics. In February 2008, he gave a speech about his current work at the TED conference.[41] Venter delivered the 2008 convocation speech for Faculty of Science honours and specialization students at the University of Alberta. A transcription of the speech is available here [42].[43] Dr. Venter was featured in Time Magazine's "The Top 10 Everything of 2008" article. Number three in 2008's Top 10 Scientific Discoveries was a piece outlining his work stitching together the 582,000 base pairs necessary to invent the genetic information for a whole new bacterium.[44]

Craig Venter Dr. Venter took part in the inaugural San Diego Science Festival 26, 2009.
[45]

16 and spoke at its press conference on February

On April 6, 2009, Venter gave a speech at Arizona State University as part of the Origins Symposium. For an episode aired on July 27, 2009, Venter was interviewed on his boat by BBC One for the first episode of TV show Bang Goes the Theory. On May 20, 2010, Venter announced the creation of first self-replicating synthetic bacterial cell.[46] On November 21, 2010 Steve Kroft profiled J. Craig Venter and his research on 60 minutes.

Individual human genome sequenced

On September 4, 2007, a team led by Sam Levy published the first complete (six-billion-letter) genome of an individual humanVenter's own DNA sequence.[40] Some of the sequences in Venter's genome are associated with wet earwax,[47] increased risk of antisocial behavior, Alzheimer's and cardiovascular diseases.[48] This publication was especially interesting since it contained a diploid instead of a haploid genome and shows promise for personalized medicine via genotyping. This genome, rather immodestly dubbed HuRef by Levy et al., was a landmark accomplishment and as of mid-2010 is probably the highest quality personal genome sequence yet completed. The Human Reference Genome Browser is a web application for the navigation and analysis of Venter's recently published genome. The HuRef database consists of approximately 32 million DNA reads sequenced using microfluidic Sanger sequencing, assembled into 4,528 scaffolds and 4.1 million DNA variations identified by genome analysis. These variants include single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), block substitutions, short and large indels, and structural variations like insertions, deletions, inversions and copy number changes. The browser enables scientists to navigate the HuRef genome assembly and sequence variations, and to compare it with the NCBI human build 36 assembly in the context of the NCBI and Ensembl annotations. The browser provides a comparative view between NCBI and HuRef consensus sequences, the sequence multi-alignment of the HuRef assembly, Ensembl and dbSNP annotations, HuRef variants, and the underlying variant evidence and functional analysis. The interface also represents the haplotype blocks from which diploid genome sequence can be inferred and the relation of variants to gene annotations. The display of variants and gene annotations are linked to external public resources including dbSNP, Ensembl, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) and Gene Ontology (GO). Users can search the HuRef genome using HUGO gene names, Ensembl and dbSNP identifiers, HuRef contig or scaffold locations, or NCBI chromosome locations. Users can then easily and quickly browse any genomic region via the simple and intuitive pan and zoom controls; furthermore, data relevant to specific loci can be exported for further analysis.

Mycoplasma laboratorium
Venter is seeking to patent the first life form created by humanity, possibly to be named Mycoplasma laboratorium.[49] There is speculation that this line of research could lead to producing bacteria that have been engineered to perform specific reactions, e.g. produce fuels, make medicines, combat global warming, etc.[50] In May 2010, a team of scientists led by Venter became the first to successfully create what was described as "synthetic life".[51] [52] This was done by synthesizing a very long DNA molecule containing an entire bacterium genome, and introducing this into another cell, analogous to the accomplishment of Eckard Wimmer's group, who synthesized and ligated an RNA virus genome and "booted" it in cell lysate.[53] The single-celled organism contains four "watermarks"[54] written into its DNA to identify it as synthetic and to help trace its descendants. The watermarks include 1. Code table for entire alphabet with punctuations

Craig Venter 2. Names of 46 contributing scientists 3. Three quotations 4. The web address for the cell.[55]

17

Selected bibliography
Venter is an ISI highly cited researcher and has authored over 200 publications in scientific journals.[56] Fleischmann, Robert D.; Adams, Mark D.; White, Owen; Clayton, Rebecca; . . . Venter, J. Craig (July 28, 1995). "Whole-Genome Random Sequencing and Assembly of Haemophilus influenzae Rd.". Science (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science) 269 (5223): 496512. doi:10.1126/science.7542800. PMID7542800. Tomb, Jean-F.; White, Owen; Kerlavage, Anthony R.; Clayton, Rebecca A.; Sutton, Granger G.; Fleischmann, Robert D.; . . . Venter, J. Craig (August 7, 1997). "The complete genome sequence of the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori". Nature (London, England: Nature Publishing Group) 388 (6642): 53947. doi:10.1038/41483. PMID9252185. Adams, Mark D.; Celniker, Susan E.; Holt, Robert A.; Evans, Cheryl A.; Goccayne, Jeannine A.; Amanatides, Peter G.; . . . Venter, J. Craig (March 24, 2000). "The genome sequence of Drosophila melanogaster". Science (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science) 287 (5461): 218595. doi:10.1126/science.287.5461.2185. PMID10731132. Venter, J. Craig; et al. (February 16, 2001). "The Sequence of the Human Genome". Science (journal) (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science) 291 (5507): 130451. doi:10.1126/science.1058040. ISSN0036-8075. PMID11181995. Venter, J. Craig; Remington, Karin; Heidelberg, John F.; Halpern, Aaron L.; Rusch, Doug; Eisen, Jonathan A.; Wu, Dongying; Paulsen, Ian et al. (April 2, 2004). "Environmental Genome Shotgun Sequencing of the Sargasso Sea". Science (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science) 304 (5667): 6674. doi:10.1126/science.1093857. PMID15001713. Rusch, Donald B.; Halpern, Aaron L.; Sutton, Granger; Heidelberg, Karla B.; Williamson, Shannon; Yooseph, Shibu; Wu, Dongying; . . . Venter, J. Craig (March 13, 2007). "The Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling expedition: Northwest Atlantic through Eastern Tropical Pacific" [57]. PLoS Biology (Public Library of Science) 5 (3): 398431. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050077. PMID17355176. PMC1821060. Yooseph, Shibu; Sutton, Granger; Rusch, Donald B.; Halpern, Aaron L.; Williamson, Shannon; Remington, Karin; Eisen, Jonathan A.; . . . Venter, J. Craig (March 13, 2007). "The Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling Expedition: Expanding the Universe of Protein Families" [58]. PLoS Biology (Public Library of Science) 5 (3): 432466. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050016. PMID17355171. PMC1821046. Venter, J. Craig (October 18, 2007). A Life Decoded: My Genome: My Life. New York, New York: Viking Adult. ISBN0670063584. OCLC165048736.

References
[1] Shreeve, Jamie (October 31, 2005). "The Blueprint Of Life" (http:/ / www. usnews. com/ usnews/ news/ articles/ 051031/ 31genome. htm). . Retrieved December 6, 2007. [2] Fox, Stuart (May 21, 2010). "J. Craig Venter Institute creates first synthetic life form" (http:/ / www. csmonitor. com/ Science/ 2010/ 0521/ J. -Craig-Venter-Institute-creates-first-synthetic-life-form). . Retrieved May 21, 2010. [3] http:/ / www. jcvi. org/ cms/ research/ projects/ first-self-replicating-synthetic-bacterial-cell/ overview/ [4] "14. Craig Venter - 50 People Who Matter 2010 |" (http:/ / www. newstatesman. com/ global-issues/ 2010/ 09/ gene-genius-craig-venter-life). New Statesman. . Retrieved 21 October 2010. [5] Venter, J. Craig. (2007-11-19). Authors@Google: J. Craig Venter (http:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch?v=bqRJL7PveWs#t=1m40s). United States. Event occurs at 1:40-2:25. . [6] J. Craig Venter (2007). "Introduction" (http:/ / www. npr. org/ templates/ story/ story. php?storyId=16004438). A Life Decoded. ISBN9780670063581. OCLC165048736. . "For many years I have been trying to make sense and meaning out of the lives I saw destroyed or

Craig Venter
maimed due to the government policies that involved us in the war in Vietnam." [7] Ward, Logan (2010-11). "Breakthrough Awards 2010: Pioneering New Life" (Print). Popular Mechanics 187 (11): 625. [8] Ross Douthat (January/February 2007). "The God of Small Things" (http:/ / www. theatlantic. com/ magazine/ archive/ 2007/ 01/ the-god-of-small-things/ 5556/ ). Atlantic Magazine. . Retrieved 2011-01-28. [9] 'Artificial life' breakthrough announced by scientists, BBC, 21 May 2010. http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 2/ hi/ science_and_environment/ 10138849. stm [10] "Craig Venter Takes Aim at the Big Questions" (http:/ / archive. sciencewatch. com/ sept-oct97/ sw_sep-oct97_page3. htm). ScienceWatch 8 (5). September/October 1997. . Retrieved June 7, 2009. [11] Rae-Venter Law Group (http:/ / www. rae-venterlaw. com/ who. htm) [12] "The god of small things" (http:/ / www. smh. com. au/ news/ science/ the-god-of-small-things/ 2007/ 01/ 25/ 1169594430068. html?page=fullpage). The Sydney Morning Herald. January 26, 2007. . [13] http:/ / people. famouswhy. com/ craig_venter/ [14] http:/ / www. nndb. com/ people/ 832/ 000163343/ [15] Wadman, Meredith (May 2007). "High-profile departure ends genome institute's charmed run". Nature Medicine 13 (5): 518. doi:10.1038/nm1594. PMID17479082. [16] Roberts, Leslie (October 11, 1991). "Genome patent fight erupts: an NIH plan to patent thousands of random DNA sequences will discourage industrial investment and undercut the Genome Project itself, the plan's critics charge.". Science 254 (5029): 184186. doi:10.1126/science.1925568. [17] "Patent LawUtilityFederal Circuit holds that expressed sequence tags lack substantial and specific utility unless underlying gene function is identified.In re Fisher, 421 F.3d 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2005)." (http:/ / www. harvardlawreview. org/ issues/ 119/ june06/ recent_cases/ in_re_fisher. pdf). Harvard Law Review 119 (8): 26042611. 2006. . [18] Weber, James L.; Myers, Eugene W. (1997). "Human Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequencing" (http:/ / genome. cshlp. org/ content/ 7/ 5/ 401. full). Genome Research 7 (5): 401409. doi:10.1101/gr.7.5.401 (inactive 2010-05-20). PMID9149936. . [19] Green, Philip (1997). "Against a Whole-Genome Shotgun" (http:/ / genome. cshlp. org/ content/ 7/ 5/ 410. full). Genome Research 7 (5): 410417. doi:10.1101/gr.7.5.410 (inactive 2010-05-20). PMID9149937. . [20] See Victor McElheny, Drawing the Map of Life: Inside the Human Genome Project, New York, Basic Books, 2010. ISBN 978-0-465-04333-0 [21] Shreeve, Jamie (October 31, 2005). "The Blueprint of Life" (http:/ / www. usnews. com/ usnews/ news/ articles/ 051031/ 31genome. htm). U.S. News and World Report. . Retrieved January 30, 2007. [22] "Montgomery County, Maryland Government (December 19, 2000). "Time Magazine Dubs Montgomery County "DNA Alley"" (http:/ / www. montgomerycountymd. gov/ mc/ news/ press/ 00-463. html). Press release. . Retrieved January 30, 2007. [23] Others, J. Craig; Adams, Mark D.; Myers, Eugene W.; Li, Peter W.; Mural, Richard J.; Sutton, Granger G.; Smith, Hamilton O.; Yandell, Mark et al. (2001). "The Sequence of the Human Genome". Science 291 (5507): 13041351. doi:10.1126/science.1058040. PMID11181995. [24] Others, E.S.; Linton, L.M.; Birren, B.; Nusbaum, C.; Zody, M.C.; Baldwin, J.; Devon, K.; Dewar, K. et al. (2001). "International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium (2001) Initial sequencing and analysis of the human ". Nature 409 (6822): 860921. doi:10.1038/35057062. PMID11237011. [25] Olson, M.V. (2002). "The Human Genome Project: A Player's Perspective" (http:/ / www. sciencedirect. com/ science?_ob=ArticleURL& _udi=B6WK7-462733V-D& _user=10& _rdoc=1& _fmt=& _orig=search& _sort=d& _docanchor=& view=c& _acct=C000050221& _version=1& _urlVersion=0& _userid=10& md5=2756b52b46093f7dbc0b492540267ac6). Journal of Molecular Biology 319 (4): 931942. doi:10.1016/S0022-2836(02)00333-9. PMID12079320. . [26] Singer, Emily (September 4, 2007). "Technology Review" (http:/ / www. technologyreview. com/ biomedicine/ 19328/ ?a=f). Technology review. . Retrieved May 25, 2010. [27] Regalo, Antonio (July 24, 2005). "Maverick biologist at work on next goal: creating life". Seattle Times. [28] Larkman, Kirell (September 7, 2007). "Yacht for Sale: Suited for Sailing, Surfing, and Seaborne Metagenomics". GenomeWeb.com (GenomeWeb News). [29] Howell, Katie (July 14, 2009). "Exxon Sinks $600M Into Algae-Based Biofuels in Major Strategy Shift" (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ gwire/ 2009/ 07/ 14/ 14greenwire-exxon-sinks-600m-into-algae-based-biofuels-in-33562. html). NYTimes.com (New York Times). . [30] http:/ / www. usasciencefestival. org/ about/ advisors retrieved 2010-07-05 [31] Shreeve, James. " Craig Venter's Epic Voyage to Redefine the Origin of the Species (http:/ / www. wired. com/ wired/ archive/ 12. 08/ venter. html)," Wired, August 2004. Accessed June 7, 2007. [32] "The Journey of the Sorcerer", The Economist, December 4, 2004. [33] First individual person's genome decoded (http:/ / www. cosmosmagazine. com/ node/ 1561) - Cosmos Magazine. September 4, 2007. [34] Geneticists on verge of creating artificial life (http:/ / www. cosmosmagazine. com/ node/ 1642) - Cosmos Magazine. October 8, 2007. [35] Douthat, Ross. "The God of Small Things," The Atlantic, Jan/Feb 2007. [36] Warren, Jessica. April 30: Genome scientist to speak at Commencement (http:/ / www. dailyfreepress. com/ news/ april-30-genome-scientist-to-speak-at-commencement-1. 932055), The Daily Free Press, April 28, 2004. Accessed August 2, 2008. [37] Aldhous, Peter (2007). "Interview: DNA's messengers". New Scientist (2626): 57. [38] Aufrett, Sarah. "ASU Celebrates Spring Graduates" (http:/ / asunews. asu. edu/ stories/ 200705/ 20070511_grad. htm), ASU Insight, May 11, 2007. Accessed June 7, 2007.

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[39] "Honorary degrees awarded to Browne, Venter and Rausing" (http:/ / www3. imperial. ac. uk/ newsandeventspggrp/ imperialcollege/ newssummary/ news_24-10-2007-11-2-43), Imperial College, October 24, 2007. Accessed May 21, 2010. [40] Levy S, Sutton G, Ng PC, Feuk L, Halpern AL, et al. (2007). "The Diploid Genome Sequence of an Individual Human" (http:/ / www. plosbiology. org/ article/ info:doi/ 10. 1371/ journal. pbio. 0050254). PLoS Biology 5 (10): e254. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050254. PMID17803354. PMC1964779. . [41] TED | Talks | Craig Venter: On the verge of creating synthetic life (video) (http:/ / www. ted. com/ talks/ craig_venter_is_on_the_verge_of_creating_synthetic_life. html) [42] http:/ / venter2008conv. jottit. com/ [43] Brown, M.: "Genomics leader accepts U of A honorary degree" (http:/ / www. expressnews. ualberta. ca/ article. cfm?id=9399), "UofA ExpressNews"; retrieved on June 7, 2009. [44] "The Top 10 Everything Of 2008" (http:/ / www. time. com/ time/ specials/ 2008/ top10/ article/ 0,30583,1855948_1863947,00. html). Time. November 3, 2008. . Retrieved April 30, 2010. [45] http:/ / mysdscience. com/ [46] http:/ / www. ted. com/ talks/ lang/ eng/ craig_venter_unveils_synthetic_life. html [47] Omim - Ear Wax, Wet/Dry (http:/ / www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/ entrez/ dispomim. cgi?id=117800) [48] Venter, J.C. (2007). A Life Decoded. New York: Viking. ISBN978-0-670-06358-1. [49] Regalado, Antonio (June 29, 2005). "Biologist Venter aims to create life from scratch" (http:/ / www. post-gazette. com/ pg/ 05180/ 530330. stm). Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. . [50] Highfield, Roger (June 8, 2007). "Man-made microbe 'to create endless biofuel'" (http:/ / www. telegraph. co. uk/ news/ uknews/ 1553919/ Man-made-microbe-to-create-endless-biofuel. html). The Daily Telegraph (London). . Retrieved April 30, 2010. [51] Gibson, DG; Glass, JI; Lartigue, C; Noskov, VN; Chuang, RY; Algire, MA; Benders, GA; Montague, MG et al. (2010). "Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome." (http:/ / www. sciencemag. org/ cgi/ content/ abstract/ science. 1190719). Science (Science (journal)) 329 (5987): 526. doi:10.1126/science.1190719. PMID20488990. . [52] "Scientists Create First Self-Replicating Synthetic Life" (http:/ / www. wired. com/ wiredscience/ 2010/ 05/ scientists-create-first-self-replicating-synthetic-life/ ). . [53] . 27. December 2009. pp. 116372. doi:10.1038/nbt.1593. PMID20010599. [54] Using Arc to decode Venter's secret DNA watermark by Ken Shirriff (http:/ / www. arcfn. com/ 2010/ 06/ using-arc-to-decode-venters-secret-dna. html) [55] Sample, Ian (May 20, 2010). "Craig Venter creates synthetic life form" (http:/ / www. guardian. co. uk/ science/ 2010/ may/ 20/ craig-venter-synthetic-life-form). The Guardian (London). . [56] "Venter, J. Craig" (http:/ / hcr3. isiknowledge. com/ author. cgi?& link1=Browse& link2=Results& id=770) (restricted access). ISIHighlyCited.com. August 19, 2003. . Retrieved October 17, 2009. [57] http:/ / www. pubmedcentral. nih. gov/ articlerender. fcgi?tool=pmcentrez& artid=1821060 [58] http:/ / www. pubmedcentral. nih. gov/ articlerender. fcgi?tool=pmcentrez& artid=1821046

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Further reading
Ewing-Duncan, David (2006). Masterminds: Genius, DNA, and the Quest to Rewrite Life. New York, New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN9780007161843. Shreeve, James (2004). The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World. New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN0375406298. Spufford, Francis (2003). The Backroom Boys: The Secret Return of the British Boffin. London, England: Faber. ISBN0571214975. Sulston, John (2002). The Common Thread: A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics and the Human Genome. Washington, DC, USA: Joseph Henry Press. ISBN0309084091.

Craig Venter

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External links
J. Craig Venter Institute (http://www.jcvi.org/) Sorcerer II Expedition (http://www.sorcerer2expedition.org/version1/HTML/main.htm) Synthetic Genomics (http://www.syntheticgenomics.com/) The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) (http://www.jcvi.org) HuRef Genome Browser (http://huref.jcvi.org)

Media
Craig Venter (http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/81) on Charlie Rose Cracking the code to life (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/oct/08/genetics.scienceandnature), The Guardian, October 8, 2007 Craig Venter interview (http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/video/289-craig_venter.html), Wired Science, December 2007 (video) Radio interview (http://philosophytalk.org/pastShows/Genomics.html) on Philosophy Talk Video of interview/discussion with Craig Venter (http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/398) by Carl Zimmer on Bloggingheads.tv Craig Venter: A voyage of DNA, genes and the sea (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5X6Qy772YU) TED (Technology Entertainment Design) conference (video) Webcast of Venter talk 'Genomics: From humans to the environment' (http://www.21school.ox.ac.uk/video/ 200710_venter.cfm) at The James Martin 21st Century School The Richard Dimbleby Lecture 2007 - Dr. J. Craig Venter - A DNA Driven World (http://video.google.com/ videoplay?docid=4893602463025557866) A short course on synthetic genomics. Edge Master Class 2009 (http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/ church_venter09/church_venter09_index.html) Craig Venter: On the Verge of Creating Synthetic Life (http://www.ted.com/talks/ craig_venter_is_on_the_verge_of_creating_synthetic_life.html) - TED (Technology Entertainment Design) conference (video) Craig Venter unveils "synthetic life" (http://www.ted.com/talks/craig_venter_unveils_synthetic_life.html) TED (Technology Entertainment Design) conference (video) " J. Craig Venter: Designing Life (http://www.cbs.com/primetime/60_minutes/)". 60 Minutes. CBS. 2010-11-21.

Article Sources and Contributors

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Article Sources and Contributors

Mycoplasma laboratorium Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=413469038 Contributors: Adventhesis, Aircorn, Alison, Andy120290, Antony-22, AxelBoldt, Craigboy, Dlungo, Drsamir, Elconejo, Enzino, Evercat, Flakinho, GoingBatty, Grundle2600, JWSchmidt, Jakobkennedy, Kleopatra, Kubiak200, Marshallsumter, Mgiganteus1, Ragesoss, Sabedon, Sasata, Serpent's Choice, Smartse, Sophos II, Soporaeternus, Squidonius, Velho, Wasell, Yellowdesk, , 33 anonymous edits Mycoplasma Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=410152509 Contributors: A-Day, Adeliine, Alansohn, Anna Frodesiak, Aranel, Arcadian, Bob Blaylock, Bobblewik, Bobo192, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, CanisRufus, ChyranandChloe, Cnairne, Cst17, D99figge, DO11.10, Danierrr, Dianamirkin, Discospinster, Doagie, Doseiai2, Esowteric, Excirial, Fanghong, Fivemack, Fram, Gould363, Gruntmonk, Haham hanuka, Happymercury, Ilikeeatingwaffles, IvanShim, JWSchmidt, Jason Quinn, Jimquinlan, Josh Grosse, Lavateraguy, Lightmouse, MER-C, Mani1, MarcoTolo, Mathias71, Mboverload, Mburger, Mdsam2, Metallion, Mgiganteus1, MicroProf, Million Moments, Mre 888, My Core Competency is Competency, NebuchadnezzarN, NewEnglandYankee, Nickptar, Occamsrazorwit, Ogrinus, OlavN, Onco p53, PancakesMan, Peter G Werner, Pkaz, Renice, Rich Farmbrough, RitRat, Rjwilmsi, Rmosler2100, Robwaldo, Ronsword, Sabedon, Seglea, ShadowRangerRIT, Shirulashem, Sournick3, Squidonius, TeamZissou, TimVickers, Una Smith, Wickey-nl, 91 anonymous edits Craig Venter Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=413963400 Contributors: * and Obelisk, 123kevin123, A5db26od, AManWithNoPlan, Abhishikt, Acampbell70, Adam majewski, Ahimsa52, Airplaneman, Aitias, Akriasas, Alansohn, Albertmost, Alexf, Alison, All Hallow's Wraith, Allissonn, AlphaEta, AmigoNico, Anaxial, Andrew c, Andrewdt85, Andycjp, Anna Frodesiak, Antony-22, Apokrif, Aufidius, Avb, Avono, BrightBlackHeaven, Brossow, Bryan Derksen, Bueller 007, Caldwa, CanadianCaesar, CanisRufus, CapitalR, Cardsplayer4life, Cariaso, Centralhawk3, Chase me ladies, I'm the Cavalry, Chenzw, ConfusedVorlon, Conversion script, Cthunter01, D rholambda, D6, Da monster under your bed, Dane Sorensen, David from Downunder, Demophon, Dismas, Dj123wind, DoctorDNA, Dogah, EdBever, Eep, Elencalime, Enzino, Episiarch, Eric Brummer, Erkcan, Esteban Zissou, Etacar11, Everard Proudfoot, Evil saltine, Famousdog, FastLizard4, Favonian, Fingerz, Fishwristwatch, Flatterworld, Flex, Florentino floro, Frasor, Frzl, Gcm, GhanaDa, Giftlite, Good Olfactory, Graham, GregorB, Hakan Kay, Hans Dunkelberg, Happysailor, Hgilbert, Hohanyao, Htanna, IALTO, II MusLiM HyBRiD II, Idyll M, Infliv, J-stan, Javaweb, Jigorou, Jmichaelrosenberg, JohnnyGerms, Johntex, Jonas AGX, Jonathan B, Julia Rossi, Jusdafax, Jwillbur, Jxramos, Katharineamy, Kazkaskazkasako, Kirachinmoku, Kpjas, Kringz, Kumioko, LaurenRueda, Lexor, Lfstevens, Linmhall, Llull, Lofhlou, Loremaster, Lumos3, Macrakis, Malcolmxl5, Manway, Marcolop, Masparasol, Masterpiece2000, Metsfanmax, Mgalle, Mhardcastle, MichaelJanich, Miguel Andrade, Mwng, Myasuda, Naddy, Nerak99, Nickjacksonza, Niharikatandon, Nihil novi, Nishkid64, Nobunaga24, Nomad, Nono64, Nymf, OldRightist, Ombudswiki, Outreachscientist, PDH, Pb30, Peter G Werner, PeterH2, Pgr94, PhilKnight, Philip Trueman, Phollands, Physicistjedi, Pinktulip, Plindenbaum, Plumbago, Prowsej, RNAgirl, Ragesoss, Rainer Wasserfuhr, Raj2004, Rajah, Rangline, Ras, Raudys, RedAndr, Remember, Rich Farmbrough, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Richard001, Rjwilmsi, Rl, Robbie098, Robinatron, Ruralgirl, Rwmacleod, SDC, Saintrain, Salmon78, Sarbruis, Seaphoto, SergeyKurdakov, Sfmammamia, Sgb235, Sharmistha1, Shawnc, ShelfSkewed, Skepticsteve, Skittleys, Skomorokh, Slixi, Snowmanradio, Snowolf, Soporaeternus, Spencergreenwood, Sq327, Srlasky, Sterichinderance, Suomi Finland 2009, Tangent747, TheRealNightRider, Tom harrison, TreasuryTag, UDScott, USNews, VK35, Versus22, Vespristiano, Vigeesh, WAS 4.250, Wcoenen, Whizzball, Wolbo, Wuhwuzdat, YUL89YYZ, YowiePower, ZephyrAnycon, Zero Gravity, Zigzig20s, ZimZalaBim, Zipzipzip, Zondi, 282 ,anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image:Craigventer2.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Craigventer2.jpg License: unknown Contributors: Article by Liza Gross, but no photo credit given

License

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License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported http:/ / creativecommons. org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 3. 0/