Synthetic biology – if you follow STEM topics in the media, chances are you’ve heard of this term somewhere recently (Hint: COVID vaccine development). Maybe you recall seeing some of its major breakthroughs on the news or maybe you’ve come across them but just haven’t paid much attention. But what is synthetic biology? The word “synthetic” means something created in the lab and, as it turns out, synthetic biology does exactly that. It is the science of enhancing living beings by redesigning their DNA. Becoming a synthetic biologist requires knowledge of not just biology but also computer science, mathematics, engineering and chemistry!
A common misconception is that synthetic biology (SynBio) is the same as genetic engineering, which may be a more familiar term. To put it simply, SynBio is the reconstruction of long DNA sequences, whereas genetic engineering usually involves the modification of individual genes. Synthetic biology can change a living organism a lot as it modifies numerous genes. It has endless applications including controlling invasive species like the zebra mussels, increasing yield of crops like canola, controlling obesity, delivering insulin to the body, preventing spread of disease through mosquitoes and helping with food allergies like lactose intolerance to name a few. Today, I am going to focus on two of the most relevant and high risk matters currently: global warming and the COVID-19 pandemic. One has the potential of slowly killing our planet while with the other the death toll is already mounting!
E. coli bacteria consuming carbon dioxide (CO2).
Image credit cell.com
As we all know, greenhouse gases have been a major environmental issue for decades. There have been various proposals to battle this such as increasing the usage of renewable energy. The fact is that these energies cannot be distributed worldwide as they are still quite costly. Since it became rather clear that we cannot combat global warming with this approach alone, researchers began working on other ways. They found that E. coli, a type of bacteria, can be redesigned to consume the harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) gas in our atmosphere and convert it to organic biomass material. The biomass could be used as biofuel or food.
Biologist, Ron Milo, and his team have been working on this solution for years. During their many trials, they put the genetically modified E. coli in different environments to force it to adapt. This was to make the bacteria only rely on the consumption of carbon from carbon dioxide as food and not sugars. The team is continually adjusting its methods and experimenting on E. coli to become more effective at this task.
Proteins on the surface of novel corona virus. The RNA vaccine enables human body to detect these proteins and fight the virus.
Image credit nationalgeographic.com
In addition to the ever-present global warming, the human race is now facing a new dilemma: the COVID-19 pandemic. In comparison to previous pandemics like the Spanish Flu of 1918, we have been able to get a handle on COVID-19 much quicker. This is due to the advances in biology, medical science and technology. One of the major contributions to the formulation to the COVID-19 vaccine has come from synthetic biology. In the past, vaccines were manufactured using dead or weak viruses. It took years to perfect the formula and run tests on animals and humans. Using SynBio, scientists have come up with a new type of vaccine called RNA vaccine. It contains RNA sequences that don’t hurt human cells but give them instructions to produce and recognize certain proteins. The same proteins are found on the surface of the novel Coronavirus. So when the actual virus attacks, the human cells recognize and defend against it. Innovative, isn’t it!
As you have seen above, SynBio is already playing a crucial role in helping humans survive and live a good life. Looking into the future, this will happen even more so. There will be other diseases and pandemics, and global warming won’t go away anytime soon. In addition, many other problems will be solved with this fascinating technology. It is not far fetched to say that the years to come will be the golden years of synthetic biology.
References
Ewen Callaway, E. coli bacteria engineered to eat carbon dioxide, Nature, Volume 576, Pages 19-20, Nov 2019.
Elie Dolgin, Synthetic biology speeds vaccine development, Nature Milestones in Vaccines, Milestone 20, Sep 2020.
Maha is a grade 10 student at Winston Churchill High School, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. Follow her on Instagram:
