Genetic engineers generally extract a gene from an organism. Then they might modify it or put it in a different organism. The gene for insulin, for instance, can be extracted from human cells and put into bacteria, which will produce insulin for use by diabetics. It is a cut-and-paste operation, like writing a phrase by snipping the necessary words out of magazines and gluing them together in the proper order.
Gene synthesis, by contrast, is like typing the phrase on a word processor. Scientists specify the sequence of the desired gene and have it “printed” at the foundry. They can do this because the complete genome sequences of humans and many other species are available in databases.
A new opportunity for foundries could come from synthetic biology, which involves designing cells almost from scratch to perform specific tasks, like producing biofuel. Synthetic biologists envision writing the DNA code for such cells the way computer programmers write software. Then the DNA would be manufactured and put into cells.
“The danger is not just bioterror,” ETC said in a report earlier this year, “but ‘bioerror.’"
