Yeah, but can this one swim...

whisper · #1 04-05-2006, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Here be dragons - Biotechnology
603 words
1 April 2006
The Economist
ECN
379
English
(c) The Economist Newspaper Limited, London 2006. All rights reserved
Pet dragons are just around the corner
With luck, you may soon be able to buy a mythological pet
PAOLO FRIL, chairman and chief scientific officer of GeneDupe, based in San Melito, California, is a man with a dream. That dream is a dragon in every home.
GeneDupe's business is biotech pets. Not for Dr Fril, though, the mundane cloning of dead moggies and pooches. He plans a range of entirely new animals—or, rather, of really quite old animals, with the twist that even when they did exist, it was only in the imagination.
Making a mythical creature real is not easy. But GeneDupe's team of biologists and computer scientists reckon they are equal to the task. Their secret is a new field, which they call “virtual cell biology”.
Biology and computing have a lot in common, since both are about processing information—in one case electronic; in the other, biochemical. Virtual cell biology aspires to make a software model of a cell that is accurate in every biochemical detail. That is possible because all animal cells use the same parts list—mitochondria for energy processing, the endoplasmic reticulum for making proteins, Golgi body for protein assembly, and so on.
Armed with their virtual cell, GeneDupe's scientists can customise the result so that it belongs to a particular species, by loading it with a virtual copy of that animal's genome. Then, if the cell is also loaded with the right virtual molecules, it will behave like a fertilised egg, and start dividing and developing—first into an embryo, and ultimately into an adult.
Because this “growth” is going on in a computer, it happens fast. Passing from egg to adult in one of GeneDupe's enormous Mythmaker computers takes less than a minute. And it is here that Charles Darwin gets a look in. With such a short generation time, GeneDupe's scientists can add a little evolution to their products.
Each computer starts with a search image (dragon, unicorn, gryphon, etc), and the genome of the real animal most closely resembling it (a lizard for the dragon, a horse for the unicorn and, most taxingly, the spliced genomes of a lion and an eagle for the gryphon). The virtual genomes of these real animals are then tweaked by random electronic mutations. When they have matured, the virtual adults most closely resembling the targets are picked and cross-bred, while the others are culled.
Using this rapid evolutionary process, GeneDupe's scientists have arrived at genomes for a range of mythological creatures—in a computer, at least. The next stage, on which they are just embarking, is to do it for real.
This involves synthesising, with actual DNA, the genetic material that the computer models predict will produce the mythical creatures. The synthetic DNA is then inserted into a cell that has had its natural nucleus removed. The result, Dr Fril and his commercial backers hope, will be a real live dragon, unicorn or what have you.
Readers with long memories may recall GeneDupe's previous attempt to break into the pet market, the Real Goldfish. This animal was genetically engineered to deposit gold in its skin cells, for that truly million-dollar look. Unfortunately Dr Fril, a biologist, neglected to think about the physics involved. The fish, weighed down by one of the heaviest metals in existence, sank like a stone, as did the project. He is more confident about his new idea, though. Indeed, if he can get the dragons' respiration correct, he thinks they will set the world on fire.

I love the Real Gold-fish idea. A perfectly good idea ruined by reality.

Werewolf · #2 04-05-2006, 12:19 PM

I once read a short story about a company that genetically engineered pets like griffins, and the religious types who protested tampering with God's creations.

I think it would be cool. Alas, I don't think we'll see anything concrete out of a doctor whose name is an anagram.

mister nacho · #3 04-05-2006, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Werewolf

I once read a short story about a company that genetically engineered pets like griffins, and the religious types who protested tampering with God's creations.

I think it would be cool. Alas, I don't think we'll see anything concrete out of a doctor whose name is an anagram.

I don't think it's just religious types. While I am somewhat religious, I don't think that's my basis for being uncomfortable with stuff like this. Yeah, some stuff might be cool, but why do it? Because we can? That's hardly a sound reason. Opening this door will - I guarantee it - lead to some scientists genetically manipulating human beings for government purposes. That's crazy, and the "religious types" are right to worry about that.

_BullDog_ · #4 04-05-2006, 12:40 PM

So after he creates these unknown beasts, what is to stop them from taking over the planet and using us as food?

SamTheEagle · #5 04-05-2006, 01:18 PM

I read a few years ago about some monk who could throw a baseball 150 miles per hour. I wonder whatever happened to that guy.

Chubbs · #6 04-05-2006, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamTheEagle

I read a few years ago about some monk who could throw a baseball 150 miles per hour. I wonder whatever happened to that guy.

he was too heavy and sank to the bottom.

_BullDog_ · #7 04-05-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamTheEagle

I read a few years ago about some monk who could throw a baseball 150 miles per hour. I wonder whatever happened to that guy.

Since he took a vow of silence he was unable to return phone calls and eventually scouts gave up on him. Although he may be able to use text messages know but is no longer throwing baseballs as it proved to have no enlightening benefit.