Criticism of the journal ‘Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome’ by Gibson et al., published in Science on the 2nd of July 2010.

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�LIN1603 Assignment

Critical Evaluation of a Scientific Paper

Introduction

The paper, chosen for critique is 'Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome' by Gibson et al., published in Science on the 2nd of July 2010.1

Summary of Paper

The paper reports the experiment which was carried out by Craig Venter and his research team. Synthesis of the genome of a bacterial cell and the transplantation of such genome into another bacterial cell, allowed the research team to finally create a bacterial cell that is controlled by a genome which is chemically synthesized.

This synthesized bacterial cell is unique and somewhat revolutionary since it seems to be controlled by synthetic chromosomes. In addition, such synthesis of bacterial cell which uses chemically synthesized genome may be important for future applications such as in the case of vaccine and food ingredient production.

Such synthesis was made possible by introducing DNA sequences into the original genome, making it distinctive and the first of its own.

DNA-repair enzymes were extracted from yeast cells and used in order to link up short DNA sequences together. Upon synthesis of the Mycoplasma mycoides genome, it was inserted into a cell of different bacterial species, which however had similar physical attributes.

Much of the mechanism and the steps involved in such synthesis still need to be comprehended. Further attempts at improving the procedure need to be made and better understanding is still required, such that the synthesized bacteria are manipulated according to need.

Critical Evaluation of Paper

The paper by Gibson et al., is revolutionary in the sense that the synthesis of synthetic genome which acts as the principle controlling factor of a bacterial cell, is unique and has never been done before. This paper proves its significance and importance since this synthesis...