Researchers say the evolution of computer chips could inform the future of synthetic biology
From: University of Cincinnati
March 3, 2022 -- Creating
synthetic life could be easily within our grasp soon based on a comparison with
the evolution of computer chips.
Computer programming
and gene synthesis appear to share little in common. But according to
University of Cincinnati professor Andrew Steckl, an Ohio Eminent Scholar,
leaps forward in technology in the former make him optimistic that wide scale
gene manufacture is achievable.
Steckl and his student,
Joseph Riolo, used the history of microchip development and large scale
computer software platforms as a predictive model to understand another complex
system, synthetic biology. Steckl said the project was inspired by comments by
another student in his group, Eliot Gomez.
"No analogy is
perfect. DNA doesn't meet certain definitions of digital code," Riolo
said, "but there are a lot of ways the genome and software code are
comparable."
According to the UC
study, synthetic biology has the potential to be "the next epochal
technological human advancement following microelectronics and the internet."
Its applications are boundless, from creating new biofuels to developing new
medical treatments.
Scientists at the J.
Craig Venter Institute created the first synthetic organism in 2010 when they
transplanted an artificial genome of Mycoplasma mycoides into another bacterial
cell. This relatively simple artificial genome took 15 years to develop at a
cost of more than $40 million.
But by using computer
chip development as a guide, Steckl said we can infer the speed and costs of
producing similar synthetic life might follow a similar trajectory as the
performance and cost of electronics over time.
The article highlights
the comparison and similarities between biological and digital coding languages
in terms of alphabet, words and sentences. However, the authors underline that
DNA coding -- the combinations the adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine that
make up a genome -- only tells part of the complex story of genes and omits
things like epigenetics.
"There are all
kinds of caveats, but we need a zero-order comparison to start down this
road," said Steckl, a distinguished research professor who holds joint
appointments in electrical engineering, biomedical engineering and materials
engineering in UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science.
"Can we compare
the complexity of programming a fighter plane or Mars rover to the complexity
associated with creating a genome of a bacterium?" Steckl asked. "Are
they of the same order or are they significantly more complicated?
"Either biological
organisms are way more complicated and represent the most complicated
'programming' that has ever been done -- so there's no way you can duplicate it
artificially -- or perhaps they're of the same order as creating the coding for
an F-35 fighter plane or a luxury car, so maybe it is possible."
Moore's Law is a
predictive model for the advancement of computer chips. Named for computer
scientist Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, it suggests that advances in
technology allow for exponential growth of transistors on a single computer
chip.
And 55 years since
Moore drafted his theory, we're still seeing it at work in three-dimensional
microchips, even if the advances provide smaller benefits in performance and
power reduction than previous leaps forward.
Since 2010, the study
said, the price of editing genes and synthesizing genomes has roughly halved
every two years in much the way Moore's Law suggests.
"This would mean
that synthesizing an artificial human genome could cost approximately $1
million dollars and simpler applications like a custom bacterium could be
synthesized for as little as $4,000," the authors said in the study.
"This combination
of surmountable complexity and moderate cost justifies the academic enthusiasm
for synthetic biology and will continue to inspire interest in the rules of
life," the study concluded.
Likewise, Steckl said
bio-engineering could become integral to virtually every industry and science
in much the same way computer science evolved from a niche discipline to a
critical component of most every science.
"I see a
correlation between how computing has evolved as a discipline. Now you see
heavy-duty computing in every science discipline," Steckl said. "I
see something similar happening in the world of biology and bio-engineering.
Biology is everywhere. It will be interesting to see how these things
evolve."
Both Steckl and Riolo
agree that the ability to create artificial life does not necessarily carry the
burden or moral authority to do so.
"It's not
something to be taken lightly," Steckl said. "It's not as simple as
we should do it because we can do it. One should also consider the philosophical
or even religious implications."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220303162039.htm
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