---
title: "Scientists Create Artificial Genome That Can Reproduce"
description: "German scientists say that for the first time ever, they've created a lab-grown artificial genome that can reproduce itself like a living organism."
date: "2020-02-18"
modified: "2020-02-18"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-create-artificial-genome-reproduce"
categories:
  - "Biology"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "artificial life"
  - "genome"
  - "synthetic biology"
  - "the digest"
---

# Scientists Create Artificial Genome That Can Reproduce

![German scientists say that for the first time ever, they've created a lab-grown artificial genome that can reproduce itself like a living organism.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/scientists-grow-artificial-genome-reproduce.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Images via Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Voight-Kampff

German scientists [say that](<https://phys.org/news/2020-02-reproductive-genome-laboratory.html>) for the first time ever, they've created a lab-grown artificial genome that can reproduce itself like a natural one.

It's not quite one of those replicants from "Blade Runner," but it's a step toward the holy grail of synthetic biology: fully artificial organisms that can survive and reproduce like the real thing.

## The Blueprint

In [a paper](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-14694-2>) published in the journal *Nature Communications* this week, researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry describe how they assembled genomes made up of blueprints for proteins — and demonstrated that it was capable of replicating 116 kilobytes worth of its own RNA and DNA.

Next up, according to a press release, the team plans to build an "enveloped system" that can reproduce like this last one — but also consume nutrition and dispose of waste, like a living cell.

**READ MORE:** [Reproductive genome from the laboratory](<https://phys.org/news/2020-02-reproductive-genome-laboratory.html>) \[Max Planck Society\]

**More on artificial life:** [*A Global Collaboration to Create “Artificial Organisms” Just Went Live*](<https://futurism.com/global-collaboration-create-artificial-organisms-live>)

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)