2 replies to this topic

[blurred]

Hip has brought up very interesting possibility from an Arthur C. Clarke novel: http://www.longecity...r-image-humans/
That mirror image of a cell should be still normally functioning - we could recreate a cell using enantiomers of molecules of the original one.
One of advantages is that such chiral organisms (using L-sugars and D-amino acids) would be just incompatible with our pathogens ...

I've just looked closer at goals of the Longecity and creating such chiral humans fits perfectly: they would be just immune to all our pathogens, which are also strongly related to (Hip): "Alzheimer's, ADHD, autism, cancers, anxiety disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, heart diseases, multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia and hundreds of others"... maybe this thread about possibility of creating forever healthy humans should be moved here?
Synthesizing enantiomers seems costly but doable, the problem could be creating a living cell? ... but Craig Venture laboratory has already created artificial cell two years ago ...

Is creating chiral humans reachable?
How much time would it take?
Can/should we help it? How? Maybe we should rather prevent it?
What are possible issues of such project?

[stords]

Sorry to say it but this is impossible.. What Venter did was design a genome and implant it into an already living cell, using all of the cell's components. That is nothing like completely making an organism from scratch. We don't know nearly enough about whats going on in the cell. Even if we knew everything, it wouldn't be obvious how to put it all together to make it go.

This is just one of those things that's way, way too science fiction.

[blurred]

Why impossible?
Chiral enzymes are just a matter of time - doubling the number of available/designable these extremely useful substances (e.g. http://www.ucd.ie/bi...tal/Chiral.html )
Since we don't have chiral machinery yet, directly synthesizing them will be initially costly, but definitely doable - leading to chiral bioreactors.
Then to improve efficiency, they will try to encapsulate these bioreactors into self-replicating bags: prokaryote - it's a matter of 20-30 years...

I think you refer to eucaryote - that their cystoskeleton and membrane structure of is much more complex?
How to do it? Cystoskeleton and membrane structure are simplified while mitosis (Golgi apparatus...) - we can target this moment. Most of organelle are quite autonomous - can be created separately. We could try to replace molecules from the original structures ... or even use molecular 3D printer building frozen structure ...
Anyway, there are possibilities and new ones will naturally appear with time - eucaryotes are required to produce more complex enzymes, so it will be important multidisciplinary field of research - I think it's a matter of another 20 years ...

Then chiral humans will be just available ...

Edited by blurred, 04 November 2012 - 07:58 AM.