Scientists develop synthetic enzymes that mimic life without RNA, DNA

(NaturalNews) The systematic replacement of all natural life with synthetic life-types is moving along at breakneck speed, with a new study published in the journal Nature announcing that scientists have come up with the world's first artificial enzymes made entirely from man-made genetic material.

Known categorically as xeno nucleic acid, or XNA, this latest offering from the synthetic biology cult reportedly has the capacity to reproduce on its own without the need for DNA or RNA, the two basic components of living organisms.

As outlined by New Scientist, the technology was developed by researchers from the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, U.K., which ironically enough is the same laboratory where the structure of DNA was first discovered back in 1953.

The science behind the madness

While XNA contains many of the same coding bases as natural DNA, which include adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine and uracil, its structural attachments are significantly different. Unlike DNA and RNA, which are attached with the polysaccharides deoxyribose and ribose, respectively, XNA is attached using other sugars and molecules.

This change precipitates the production of enzymes within XNA, as well as the storage of hereditary information, two vital components towards a complete recreation of life without normal DNA or RNA. And though XNA enzymes are currently unable to reproduce themselves, they can "cut and paste" RNA just like natural enzymes, as well as splice together fragments of other XNA.

"Until recently, it was thought that DNA and RNA were the only molecules that could store genetic information and, together with protein, the only biomolecules able to form enzymes," stated Dr. Philipp Holliger from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge, one of the researchers involved.

"Our work suggests that, in principle, there are a number of possible alternatives to nature's molecules that will support the catalytic processes required for life. Life's 'choice' of RNA and DNA may just be an accident of prehistoric chemistry.

Synthetic biologists assume roles as 'gods' in recreating all life

In so many words, Dr. Holliger is basically suggesting here that the entire realm of natural life is just one big genetic accident, and that he and his team of superior brainiacs are forging better ways of manifesting life through artificial genetic science.

It is an outrageously arrogant and lunatic position to take, but one that an increasing number of so-called academics are adopting with regards to the future of life on this planet, and potentially other planets as well.

In fact, Dr. Holliger and his colleagues believe that life did exist on other planets so many billions of years ago, and that the genetic blueprints sustaining life may have contained the synthetic XNA lifeforms that he and his team are concocting in British laboratories.

"The creation of synthetic DNA, and now enzymes, from building blocks that don't exist in nature also raises the possibility that if there is life on other planets it may have sprung up from an entirely different set of molecules, and widens the possible number of planets that might be able to host life," he added.

In essence, Dr. Holliger believes himself to be a special type of god with the authority to tear down the "old" and usher in the new. If successful, his ongoing developments will eventually allow for the genetic re-engineering of animals and humans, in addition to the heinous genetic modifications already taking place on plants and food crops.

Sources:

http://www.nature.com

http://www.newscientist.com

http://www.cam.ac.uk

http://www.synbiowatch.org