Artificial Life, Biofuels & Climate Change: The ABC Of Synthetic Biology

Posted on 24. May, 2010 by Ross in New Technologies, Oil

Last week the mainstream media was set alight by the news that scientists had created the world’s first artificial bacteria, leading to excitement at the applications of the science, accusations of playing God and bewilderment at the speed of new advances in synthetic biology.

Whilst ten years ago such ground-breaking advances in biochemistry were all focused towards medical advancements, this new artificial life-form based on an existing bacterium has a different goal in it’s sights: fighting climate change.

With transport in the headlights for the massive carbon dioxide emissions which the world’s planes, trains and automobiles create, massive investments have been made into cleaning up the act of the combustion engine or finding a cleaner alternative. Electric vehicles and hydrogen cars may be the answer of the future, but both are unsuitable for aeroplanes and do nothing to address the huge numbers of conventional vehicles currently clogging our roads.

Biofuels are seen as the answer of the present, but existing biofuel creation is highly controversial. When the full impact of fertilisers, transport and processing is taken into account, crop-based biofuels come a long way short of being carbon neutral, as well as demanding massive amounts of irrigation in a world already over-stretching it’s water resources. By contrast, the emerging prospect of algae biofuels promises carbon-negative fuel (when combined with Carbon Capture and Utilisation), using less resources and waste water.

Algae biofuels also offer more customisation: since they are simple, single-celled organisms their capacity to generate fuels can be more easily tailored by genetic engineering than more complex crops. Replacing algae with artificial lifeforms is therefore an obvious next step in the enhanced commercialisation of synthetic biofuels, as well as possibly enhancing the prospect of increasingly tailored artificial photosynthesis.

Such science currently comes at an ethical and moral price, but the price tag has yet to be set because the science is constantly staying ahead of regulation or oversight. The team leader responsible for the latest advance, Craig Venter, has a track record of trampling over concerns and ethics in his quest to push the boundaries back further. He controversially beat the worldwide efforts to sequence the human genome, setting up a private company using more current technology to complete the sequencing faster than the longer-running international collaboration, much to the horror of medical ethics which feared the patenting of human DNA. Since then, Venter has pursued the creation of artificial life relentlessly despite a deluge of public and professional criticisms.

Business likes a man who delivers results though, and for that reason oil company Exxon-Mobil entered into a partnership with Venter’s company Synthetic Genomics to pursue artificial life biofuels. Whilst the energy giants are currently downplaying the importance of the current development to their longer-term goals, there can be little doubt that both companies are grinning as the prospect of commercially-viable algae/bacteria biofuel installations inches closer and closer.

Image part of the image collection of the International Rice Research Institute.