(2)Scientists Carole Lartigue and colleagues from the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland have transformed one species of bacteria into another species by swapping its genome. Their findings, published in a recent issue of Science, show that it is possible to insert a complete set of DNA into a recipient organism and have that organism express the foreign DNA. The researchers hope this achievement will one day enable them to develop custom-built synthetic life forms. More at PhysOrg.com(1).
Pictured: Colony of M. Capricolum, the recipient bacteria, in one of the experiments. Credit: Lartigue, et al.