11 July 2002
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2122000/2122619.stm
First synthetic virus created
By Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor
Scientists have assembled the first synthetic virus.
The US researchers built the infectious agent from scratch using the
genome sequence for polio.
Scientists are divided about whether a virus is alive. For those that
think it is, then this synthetic artefact would constitute a simple
form of life.
Responding to criticisms that such research could lead to
bioterrorists engineering new lethal viruses, the scientists behind
the experiment said that only a few people had the knowledge to make
it happen.
'New reality'
To construct the virus, the researchers say they followed a recipe
they downloaded from the internet and used gene sequences from a
mail-order supplier.
Having constructed the virus, which appears to be identical to its
natural counterpart, the researchers, from the University of New York
at Stony Brook, injected it into mice to demonstrate that it was
active.
The animals were paralysed and then died.
"The reason we did it was to prove that it can be done and it now is a
reality," said Dr Eckard Wimmer, leader of the biomedical research
team and co-author of the study published in the journal Science.
"This approach has been talked about, but people didn't take it
seriously," said Dr Wimmer.
"Now people have to take it seriously. Progress in biomedical research
has its benefits and it has its down side. There is a danger inherent
to progress in sciences. This is a new reality, a new consideration."
'Very easy to do'
According to researcher Jeronimo Cello, the polio virus assembled in
the laboratory is one of the simplest known viruses. "It was very easy
to do," he said.
The more dangerous smallpox virus would be complex and difficult to
assemble, but Cello says, "it would probably in the future be
possible".
Dr Wimmer added: "The world had better be prepared."
Smallpox has been eradicated in the wild, but specimens are stored in
the United States and the Soviet Union.
Dr Wimmer said assembling the polio virus showed that eradicating a
virus in the wild might not mean it was gone forever because
biochemists could now reconstruct those viruses from blueprints.
Following last year's terrorist and anthrax-by-mail attacks, US
officials became concerned about the threat of smallpox and arranged
for the manufacture of enough vaccine to protect the US population.
Matter of time
Dr CJ Peters, director for the Center for Biodefense at the University
of Texas Medical Center at Galveston, said experts had known for years
that it was theoretically possible to assemble a virus in the lab.
"We've known this could be done. We've known it was just a matter of
time before it was done," he said.
Dr Peters said he was concerned that publicity about a synthesized
virus might lead some people to believe "that there is nothing that
can be done about bioterrorism - which is not the case".
He added that it was possible that viruses like Ebola could be
assembled in laboratories, but there were only a few people in the
world with that skill.
Polio is on the brink of being eradicated worldwide and there are
plans to stop inoculations against the disease after it disappears
from nature.
Dr Wimmer said that this policy should be reconsidered. Stopping
vaccination could lead to a generation of people highly susceptible to
polio, enhancing its appeal as a weapon.
The World Health Organization is planning to stockpile vaccines
against a return of polio and Dr Wimmer said that policy should be
followed everywhere.