Two Harvard researchers say they have successfully constructed a ribosome.
Harvard Medical School Professor Greg Church and Research Fellow Michael Jewett extracted ribosomes from E. coli bacteria, processed them, and then made new ones from the molecules.
“The reason it is a step toward artificial life is that the key component of all living systems is the ribosome, which does protein synthesis. It is the most conserved and one of the most complicated biological machines,” Professor Church stated.
The two researchers have already created firefly luciferase, which is the bioluminescent material we see glowing. (Luciferase is reportedly very energy efficient, nearly all the chemical enery is transferred into light, whereas an incandescent light bulb loses about 90% of energy.)
The purpose of the research is to one day create cells that can be used for industrial purposes, such as making more efficient drugs and synthetic biofuels. The next goal is to make a sequence of 151 genes to see if they can create a functioning, self-replicating cell.
Ribsomes are the factories of cells, making proteins which carry out genetic instructions. Proteins (like insulin) are sequences of amino acids. Ribosomes are found in all life forms. The ribosomes in all life forms are very similar.
The ribosome emerged about four billion years ago, and was a pivotal juncture in evolution. Because they are so important for protein syntheis, hundreds or thousands of them can be found in each cell. Without proteins life would not exist as we know it.
Image credit: Protein Data Bank
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