Scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a genomics research facility, transplanted a bacterial chromosome from one type of bacteria into another, and have completely replaced an entire bacterial genome and its expression. The work of Carole Lartigue, Ph.D. and colleagues was published in the latest issue of Science:

The JCVI team devised several key steps to enable the genome transplantation. First, an antibiotic selectable marker gene was added to the M. mycoides LC chromosome to allow for selection of living cells containing the transplanted chromosome. Then the team purified the DNA or chromosome from M. mycoides LC so that it was free from proteins (called naked DNA). This M. mycoides LC chromosome was then transplanted into the M. capricolum cells. After several rounds of cell division, the recipient M. capricolum chromosome disappeared having been replaced by the donor M. mycoides LC chromosome, and the M. capricolum cells took on all the phenotypic characteristics of M. mycoides LC cells.
As a test of the success of the genome transplantation, the team used two methods — 2D gel electrophoresis and protein sequencing, to prove that all the expressed proteins were now the ones coded for by the M. mycoides LC chromosome. Two sets of antibodies that bound specifically to cell surface proteins from each cell were reacted with transplant cells, to demonstrate that the membrane proteins switch to those dictated by the transplanted chromosome not the recipient cell chromosome. The new, transformed organisms show up as bright blue colonies in images of blots probed with M. mycoides LC specific antibody.
The group chose to work with these species of mycoplasmas for several reasons — the small genomes of these organisms which make them easier to work with, their lack of cell walls, and the team’s experience and expertise with mycoplasmas. The mycoplasmas used in the transplantation experiment are also relatively fast growing, allowing the team to ascertain success of the transplantation sooner than with other species of mycoplasmas.
According to Dr. Lartigue, “While we are excited by the results of our research, we are continuing to perfect and refine our techniques and methods as we move to the next phases and prepare to develop a fully synthetic chromosome.”
Genome transplantation is an essential enabling step in the field of synthetic genomics as it is a key mechanism by which chemically synthesized chromosomes can be activated into viable living cells. The ability to transfer the naked DNA isolated from one species into a second microbial species paves the way for next experiments to transplant a fully synthetic bacterial chromosome into a living organism and if successful, “boot up” the new entity. There are many important applications of synthetic genomics research including development of new energy sources and as means to produce pharmaceuticals, chemicals or textiles.

Press release: JCVI Scientists Publish First Bacterial Genome Transplantation Changing One Species to Another …

An article in Nature discusses the recent discovery that human urine can be used as a valuable source of nutrients for plankton, which in turn are used as food for fish grown in fish farms. Here’s a bit from the article:

Human urine could nourish the plankton used as food on fish farms. Plankton grown in diluted urine do better than those given other nitrogen-rich materials, ecological engineers have found.
Bara Bihari Jana and his colleagues at the University of Kalyani, India, mixed ground water with human urine from the university’s urinals and added the zooplankton Moina micrura, which is often fed to hatchling fish in commercial fisheries.
They also tried rearing the plankton in various cocktails of cow urine, vermin compost, poultry droppings and cow dung, all of which are commonly used in fish farming in poor regions where chemical fertilizers are not available. All treatments used half a litre of urine, or half a kilo of dung, to every 4,500 litres of water.
Young plankton in human urine began reproducing at least four days earlier than those in other tanks, lived longer and produced more offspring, the researchers found. The study is published in Ecological Engineering.

We knew Howard Hughes was onto something when he was keeping all those jars of urine.
Read the article here…

Ouch! Google isn’t used to this. Normally they are treated with cheers and flowers and offerings of virgins, but their latest venture into medicine has critics up in arms. The only people who aren’t upset about the new Google Health Advisory Council are the twenty-some fancy pants who are on the committee. For a complete list of pissed off people, head on over to KevinMD, the internist with his thumb on the radial pulse of the medical blogosphereic world.

Every day, people use Google to learn more about an illness, drug, or treatment, or simply to research a condition or diagnosis. We want to help users make more empowered and informed healthcare decisions, and have been steadily developing our ability to make our search results more medically relevant and more helpful to users.
Although we have some talented people here with extensive backgrounds in health policy and technology, this is an especially complex area. We often seek expertise from outside the company, and health is no exception. We have formed an advisory council, made up of healthcare experts from provider organizations, consumer and disease-based groups, physician organizations, research institutions, policy foundations, and other fields. The mission of the Google Health Advisory Council is broadly to help us better understand the problems consumers and providers face every day and offer feedback on product ideas and development. It’s a great privilege for us to work with this esteemed group.

Official Google Blog…