WASHINGTON, June 29 U.S. researchers have successfully transplanted the entire genome of one species of bacteria into another species.
The work by researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute was published online in the journal Science.
"The successful completion of this research is important because it is one of the key proof of principles in synthetic genomics that will allow us to realize the ultimate goal of creating a synthetic organism," J. Craig Venter said Friday in a news release.
The scientists transplanted chromosomes to change the bacterial species Mycoplasma capricolum into Mycoplasma mycoides Large Colony (LC) by replacing one organism's genome with the other one's genome, the Venter Institute said.
Venter said synthetic genomics holds great promise in helping to solve issues like climate change and in developing new sources of energy.
Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, told The New York Times the transplantation technique was "a landmark accomplishment."
Copyright 2007 by UPI
