Abstract
This editorial briefly discusses the implications of the recent report by Craig Venter et al. on re-creating Mycoplasma mycoides as a synthetic life form.
Highlights
Some of our fellow human beings will surely see the 20th of May 2010 as the day of our second eviction from paradise, or even the first step on a sliding slope to hell
What has happened? Craig Venter, a seemingly tireless maverick/maniac/ visionary, and his team have succeeded in copying, i.e. reproducing, and slightly modifying an existing life form something that all living cells have been able to do for a long time already
* Correspondence: stephan.feller@imm.ox.ac.uk 1 Cell Signalling Group, Department of Molecular Oncology, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK Full list of author information is available at the end of the article so-called systems biologist have done at best 'sub-systems biology', but the new technologies developed by Venter et al will enable completely unprecedented ways of systematic systemic experimentation with living cells
Summary
Some of our fellow human beings will surely see the 20th of May 2010 as the day of our second eviction from paradise, or even the first step on a sliding slope to hell. Craig Venter, a seemingly tireless maverick/maniac/ visionary, and his team have succeeded in copying, i.e. reproducing, and slightly modifying an existing life form something that all living cells have been able to do for a long time already. This miniscule creature is potentially the most lowly version of all cellular life forms, its re-creation is clearly the beginning of many things.
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