The first artificial virus, a Phi-X174 bacteriophage, was synthesized in 2003 by Craig Venter’s team. The process involves synthesizing oligonucleotides, purifying them, assembling them, and making copies using PCR. The synthesized virus was infectious and could be used for pollution abatement, but there is a risk of misuse.
The world’s first artificial virus was synthesized at the end of 2003 by a research team led by Craig Venter, who was also responsible for the first sequencing of the human genome. The virus was a Phi-X174 bacteriophage (bacteria eater) whose genome has 5,000 base pairs, or nucleotides. By comparison, the human genome has about 3 billion base pairs.
The polio virus, with 7,500 base pairs, was also synthesized from scratch. Synthesizing the Phi-X174 virus was a quick task: with contemporary technology, it only took two weeks. Synthesizing other virii took months.
The process begins with the synthesis of oligonucleotides, which are short lengths of nucleotides (DNA or RNA) with about twenty or fewer base pairs each. Since biologists have been synthesizing oligonucleotides for years already, there are DNA synthesis machines capable of producing them automatically. Designing the oligonucleotides for the Phi-X174 virus took just eight hours, followed by a four-day synthesis process.
The next step is the purification of the oligonucleotides by gel electrophoresis. The purified oligos are then labeled with special chemicals and sequentially assembled, one by one, in a process called PCA (polymerase cycle assembly). After 35-70 cycles, a complete chromosome consisting of artificial oligos was synthesized. Using PCR (polymerase chain reaction), many copies of the original chromosome are then made, the best of which are selected using another round of gel purification. These nucleotide chains are then circularized from their linear chromosome forms, becoming infectious.
The infectious chromosomes (virii) are then transplanted onto an agar plate containing bacteria for consumption. Within a day, telltale remnants of viral activity and self-replication can already be found, proving that the synthesis was a success.
The synthesis of man-made viruses has been discussed for applications such as pollution abatement and advanced filtering. Specialized microbes can be created to consume almost anything. On the other hand, there is always the risk that an evil party uses this technology to create a virus designed for high virulence or lethality against human hosts.
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