Biofuels Researcher Moves Closer to Creating Artificial Life

A well-known biofuels researcher at Harvard has developed a synthetic ribosome — one of the fundamental building blocks for creating artificial life — which, initially, could have major implications for the creation of designer enzymes to make cheaper and more energy efficient cellulosic ethanol.

Dr. George Church, co-founder of the next generation biofuels company LS9, made the stunning announcement in a telephone call with reporters.

“If you are going to make synthetic life that is anything like current life … you have got to have this … biological machine,” Dr. Church said in comments to Reuters.

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Possibilities for biofuels research include the creation of new enzymes to more efficiently break down cellulosic material for advanced biofuels, or engineering new forms of life that have higher amounts of starch content for biofuels production.

Dr. Church said that his research has not yet been published in a scientifically peer-reviewed journal, but that he and his research partner, Mike Jewett, have already synthesized an artificial version of the protein that makes fireflies glow — luciferase.

Source: Biofuels Digest
Image Credit: One example of the atomic structure of RNA. Proteins are shown in blue and the single RNA strand in orange. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

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