Dozens of scientists warn of serious risks in mirror bacteria research

aAs synthetic biologists, we have been in awe of the field’s breakthroughs over the past few decades. Over the past 15 years, synthetic biologists have book, imageeven video In our DNA, we have developed the following abilities: Modifying and manipulating genes with amazing precisioneven createcreature with Chromosomes designed using a computer and synthesized in a laboratory.^1-5

These advances have enabled us to: Developing effective drugs for diseases such as malariainnovating lightweight, biodegradable, high-strength materials. artificial spider silkand Deepen your understanding of how life forms.^6-8 In many cases, these breakthroughs are unexpected and would not have occurred if scientists were not free to conduct their research.

However, we have recently joined many other scientists When calling for research in a specific field, do not have What is pursued are tasks that can lead to the production of “mirror bacteria.”⁹ These are bacteria made of all the components that natural cells have, but all biopolymers have the opposite stereochemistry. We are passionate advocates for allowing scientists to conduct research with as few restrictions on intellectual curiosity as possible, and we do not call for bans often or lightly. However, there are exceptions to every rule, and this is one of them. We believe that research to develop Mirrorlife should not continue unless convincing evidence emerges that mirror bacteria do not pose an unacceptable risk.

The charm of mirror life

Life is very complex, fascinating and mysterious. What attracted us to synthetic biology is precisely how much we can learn about life and all the important ways we can harness it by trying to recreate life from scratch. That was it. This is why both of us have dedicated much of our careers to creating synthetic cells.

Cells are the basic building blocks of life. The creation of synthetic cells, by using synthetic molecules to reproduce cell functions or by assembling natural molecules into synthetic systems, can be used for a wide range of applications, from development to development. Bacteria-based self-healing concrete to create smallest cell This allows us to investigate the first principles of cellular life.^{10, 11}

The smallest cells are particularly useful because normal cells contain many different components that can react in complex ways with many other molecules and cells, making them difficult to use in research and drug development. Worth it. Minimal cells were created by removing genes not needed for growth in laboratory culture, so they cannot survive outside the laboratory. The extreme simplicity of these minimal cells makes them an ideal platform for research to understand the fundamentals of life and how drugs affect fundamental cell biology.

For these reasons, in 2018, together with other companies, we decided toBuilding a cell” community – a network of researchers aimed at developing synthetic living cells.¹² It was also around this time that we began working on the development of “mirror cells.”

Many molecules are chiral. That is, molecules exist in left-handed and right-handed forms. When a chiral molecule is placed in front of a mirror, its mirror image has different three-dimensional orientations. Mirror images of a ball or a wine glass look the same, but a mirror image of your right hand looks like your left hand. Nature tends to favor one of these forms. For example, amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins, tend to exist in a “left-handed” form. Sugars, the building blocks of carbohydrates, tend to exist in a right-handed form. The term “mirror molecule” refers to a molecule with chirality opposite to the form most commonly found in nature. unnatural mirror molecules, etc. right handed amino acids or left handed sugar It was made in a laboratory.^{13, 14}

Many of the undesirable reactions that mirror cells avoid rely on sensing and reacting with chiral molecules. Therefore, cells made of mirror molecules never interact with most normal molecules and cells in the first place. Mirror cells may offer a promising approach to study living organisms with much less contamination and to produce mirror drugs that are not degraded or removed by the human body’s cellular processes. We began researching mirror cells to achieve these benefits, and we all look forward to seeing this research field succeed in the coming decades.

With the right ingredients and nutrients, normal cells can quickly start up and form life forms such as bacteria. Similarly, with the right ingredients and nutrients, mirror cells can be activated to form mirror bacteria. Although this technology is far away, it would be an incredible feat of engineering if it were to become a reality. Both of us were initially excited about the prospect of developing Mirror Life, but when we learned that Mirror Bacteria could have incredibly deadly effects if introduced into the wild. , I changed my mind.

Why are mirror bacteria dangerous?

Artificial or modified organisms often face greater difficulties in survival compared to natural organisms. Microorganisms developed in laboratory settings typically grow in very specific conditions and using very specific nutrients. Its composition and concentration do not reflect the complex and diverse conditions found in nature. As a result, unfortunately, laboratory intrusions do occur, but only in the hundreds. Annual “Possible Release” Event At least one to two infection events are detected per year. Most infectious events involving artificial or modified organisms do not result in outbreaks. This is because they are too “vulnerable” to breed in the unfavorable environment of the outside world, making them easy prey. Against natural enemies such as viruses that target bacteria (bacteriophages).¹⁵

However, many interactions between organisms and cells depend on the ability to sense and react to chiral molecules in the first place. Due to their incompatibility with natural biological reactions, mirror bacteria cannot be sensed, killed, or digested by bacteriophages or other organisms, meaning they have no natural enemies in the wild. Importantly, many immune responses in humans, other animals, and plants also function by sensing and responding to chiral bacterial molecules. If a human were to become infected with mirror bacteria, the human immune system would have such a difficult time detecting and killing the mirror cells that the human immune system could become immunocompromised. As a result, it has been hypothesized that mirror bacteria can multiply to very high levels within the human body, causing a condition similar to septic shock.

The drawback to the biology that makes mirror bacteria “invisible” as natural enemies is that they cannot access many of the chiral nutrients found in nature. However, some nutrients, such as glycerol, are achiral (do not have a mirror-image structure) and therefore can be consumed by mirror-image bacteria. Well-intentioned scientists could engineer mirror bacteria that can consume naturally occurring chiral molecules such as sugars and amino acids.

Mirror bacteria can then spread throughout an environment without natural enemies, infecting organisms with little to no immune response, and causing potentially fatal infections. An unstoppable replicating mirror with no bacteria in the environment. cause a result That would be tragic.¹⁶

the exception rather than the rule

We are deeply passionate about all that synthetic biology has to offer. We share a concern about the dangers of restricting science because it goes against political interests, is seen as useless, or is simply misunderstood. Free science is usually better for the world.

However, there are important exceptions. limits research Involves live smallpox virus, Dangerous human psychology experimentand Nuclear explosion test in the environment Because it’s too dangerous. We believe that creating a mirror life falls into the same category of research that is too risky to conduct.^17-19

However, we believe that mirror biology regulations should not impact the majority of synthetic biology research in the medical and pharmaceutical industries. Few laboratories are interested in creating Mirror Life, and it is not clear to us whether developing Mirror Life offers unique benefits that cannot be achieved by other methods. For example, we noted that mirror molecules hold promise as medicines because they can evade detection by the body. However, many of these mirror protein, mirror carband other small mirror molecules have already been made in a safe manner and cannot be applied to create mirror life.^20,21 Measures should be taken to ensure that large mirror molecules (such as mirror genomes) are not created to develop mirror lifetimes, but research on small mirror molecules should be free to continue.

After all, the best way to ensure that synthetic biologists continue to develop breakthrough advances is to do so without endangering world safety, undermining public trust, or causing great harm to science. The best thing to do is to avoid it. Curiosity alone is not a good enough reason to create something potentially very dangerous. In the interest of humanity, and of science itself, we must avoid creating mirror life.