---
title: "Scientists Created This Organism’s DNA From Scratch"
description: "Cambridge biologists recreated a bacterial genome from scratch, breeding E. coli with the artificial genetic code instead of natural DNA."
date: "2019-05-16"
modified: "2019-05-17"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/organism-synthetic-genome"
categories:
  - "DNA"
  - "Genetics"
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "biology"
  - "genetics"
  - "the digest"
---

# Scientists Created This Organism’s DNA From Scratch

![Cambridge biologists recreated a bacterial genome from scratch, breeding E. coli with the artificial genetic code instead of natural DNA.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/organism-synthetic-genome.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Mattosaurus via Wikimedia Commons/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## We Can Rebuild It

For the first time, scientists have created life with genetic code that was developed from scratch.

A University of Cambridge team created living, reproducing *E. coli* bacteria with DNA coded entirely by humans, [according to *The New York Times*](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/15/science/synthetic-genome-bacteria.html>). The new bacteria look a little wonky, but they behave more or less the same as natural *E. coli*. Learning to rebuild genomes from scratch could teach scientists how DNA originally came to be — and how we can manipulate it to create new life.

## Piece By Piece

Before this study, the longest stretch of [synthetically-coded DNA](<https://futurism.com/synthetic-biology-its-alive-but-is-it-life.md>) was about a million segments long. This new bacterial genome is four times that length, [according to research](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1192-5>) published Wednesday in the journal *Nature*.

The Cambridge scientists, led by molecular biologist Jason Chin, swapped out the bacteria's natural DNA piece by piece until they had replaced the original genome in its entirety, the *NYT* reports. Once the new DNA was in place, the bacteria grew into an unusual shape and followed a slowed-down reproductive cycle, but otherwise carried on as normal.

## Factory Farm

Down the road, Chin hopes to further streamline the process, potentially giving rise to cheaply-manufactured [artificial life](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-create-material-artificial-metabolism.md>). Scientists like Harvard biologist Finn Stirling envision a future where this technology makes its way to other species in the lab.

"In theory, you could recode anything," Stirling told *The NYT*.

**READ MORE:** [Scientists Created Bacteria With a Synthetic Genome. Is This Artificial Life?](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/15/science/synthetic-genome-bacteria.html>) \[*The New York Times*\]

**More on genetics:** *[Microbiologists Are Suddenly Really, Really Worried About Synthetic Smallpox](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/smallpox-synthesis-pandemic.md>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)

## More

- [Scientists Playing God are Building Human DNA From the Ground Up](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientists-building-human-chromosome.md>)
- [Scientists Say They’ve Created a New Form of Life More Perfect Than the One Nature Made](<https://futurism.com/scientists-synthetic-lifeform-syn57.md>)
- [This New Technique Makes Rewriting the Genetic Code of Living Organisms Much Easier](<https://futurism.com/this-new-technique-makes-rewriting-the-genetic-code-of-living-organisms-much-easier-2.md>)
- [Harvard Scientists Create Hard Drives That Are Alive](<https://futurism.com/harvard-scientists-create-hard-drives-that-are-alive-by-uploading-data-to-living-cells.md>)
- [Scientists Have Created A Way to “Delete” DNA in Living Cells](<https://futurism.com/dna-deletion.md>)
- [Scientists Just Encoded a GIF into the DNA of Bacteria Using CRISPR](<https://futurism.com/scientists-just-encoded-a-gif-into-the-dna-of-bacteria-using-crispr.md>)
- [Scientist Warns That New Synthetic Lifeform Could Spell Doom for Humankind](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientist-warns-synthetic-lifeform-doom-humankind.md>)
- [Study Shows Why We Are Made of DNA and Not RNA](<https://futurism.com/study-shows-why-we-are-made-of-dna-and-not-rna.md>)