4 Ways Synthetic Biology Can Benefit Earth
Earth was created around 4.54 billion years ago. During that time, one thing has remained constant, and that’s change. Specifically, biological change. Humanity has evolved, species have gone extinct, and Earth continues to breathe even when it’s atmosphere and surface have some damage.
Innovation is the way humanity has made things better. And we have been making things better from even the beginning. Periods of time has taken its effect on Earth, like the pollution and structure of industrialism during the Industrial Age. I think it’s time for another age to take the spotlight…
Innovation: And specifically, biological innovation. You will find that synthetic biology may lead us to huge progress in medicine, sustaining our environment, and creating better materials and healthier food. So, without further ado, here’s 4 ways synthetic biology can benefit Earth! 🌎
A Quick Introduction
The world of synbio (Synthetic Biology) is the crossroads of biology and engineering. Synbio is impacting production of things such as bio-fuels, medicine, and bio-products. This article is about how synbio can benefit the Earth. And these amazing examples of innovation? They’re only the beginning…
Genetic LEGOs and synbio
Synbio is a multidisciplinary field of biology that explores the construction of entirely new organisms, functions, and cells that don’t even exist in nature… YET! Imagine this: A world where a building can be made with bricks of bacteria, and in the apartments there’s a mushroom chair maybe… We can get there! And synbio may very well be our ticket to a better future.
To understand an important standard system in synbio, I will explain BioBricks: Basically genetic LEGO’s. Let’s go deeper: BioBricks are predisposed to have DNA sequences with structures and functions; they are also composed and incorporated into cells of other organisms to build up whole biological systems. BioBricks we’re created by Tom Knight, widely considered The Godfather of synthetic biology!
Here’s the process behind BioBricks.
BioBricks are DNA sequences that are used to design SynBio circuits: Parts in cells that fulfill logical functions, like a biological electric circuit. These circuits are placed in microorganisms. E. Coli is used in many synbio projects because of it’s commonality and easy introduction of DNA molecules into it’s cells. Genetic engineering is the foundation of synbio, so to understand this field we have to understand multiple different areas of biology, including genetic engineering! There are a few key terms to keep in mind when working with BioBricks:
- Restriction Sites: DNA molecules contain specific nucleotides, 4–8 base pairs in length, that are targeted by restriction enzymes. Restriction enzymes cleave the DNA molecules at specific sequences of bases. The enzymes make zig-zag cuts, which makes single stranded sticky ends; These sticky ends are important to the formation of recombinant DNA, and result in genetic material that would not otherwise exist in the natural genome. This is what synbio is all about, creating never before seen organisms and functions within them!
- Plasmids: Plasmids are circular DNA molecules, which are separate from chromosomal DNA. Commonly found in bacteria, as double stranded DNA molecules. Plasmids usually carry genes that give advantage over specific conditions or situations. In a BioBrick, these circular plasmids act as vectors, (a transport DNA molecule to artificially carry foreign genes into other cells.) that carry BioBrick parts and their sequences.
- Prefix and Suffix: You may have heard of these words in your English textbook, but in BioBrick terms, these are standard sequences. These two sequences code restriction enzyme sites. There are 4 sites in all, EcoRI and Xbal sites are coded by the prefix; Spel and Pstl sites are coded by the suffix. These two parts aren’t realized as part of the BioBrick. It should also be noted that assembly is made easier when the BioBrick doesn’t contain the prefix and suffix sequences. Prefix and suffix sequences are used as standards, and make assembly (and shipping your BioBricks to the Registry) of BioBricks easier.
There is a ton of intricacies in this assembly method, first developed by Tom Knight. There is a website that holds the Registry of Standard Biological Parts, (RSBP) which lists the crazy functions, performance, and design of all 20,000+ standard biological parts registered. There is also an ID code for each Brick. This registry has tons of Bricks from iGEM undergraduates. iGEM, (International Genetically Engineered Machine) is a non-profit foundation that is all about the innovation and expansion of synbio, and the host of the iGEM competition where many teams compete to build things in the awesome field of synthetic biology! Here’s a video about it! Think about registering when you eventually create your own BioBrick, and further down the line, maybe even your own specialized bacteria that eats up plastic pollution from the ocean!
But moving on from the expansive and technical topic of BioBricks, let’s discuss exactly what synthetic biology can do for humanity in the foreseeable future!
1.) I Scream, You Scream…
For ice cream! There you go, finished it. Since synbio is all about biological cool science, let’s explore it’s food capabilities! Synbio can bring huge changes to the table, including cow free ice cream! Perfect Day has their eyes on the prize of future of food, and is using dairy flora, a mini organism that creates large amounts of protein and fermentation to produce what they call “flora-based dairy protein.” Can ice cream be Vegan? I guess so, especially since the milk protein isn’t coming from cows… It’s coming from genetically engineered bacteria. It’s flora based, and is lactose free.
A bonus: No animals are harmed (or used) during the making of this dairy treat. And seeing how 39 million cattle are slaughtered in the USA every year, maybe this ice cream wouldn’t be too bad to try out!
I think it’s safe to say that the world would be better off without agricultural practices hurting cows and our environment.
2.) All Around You, There is Innovation.
Synbio is changing the world, and with it the medical industry! Codexis is a company that is engineering proteins and making big strides in the biopharma industry! The biopharma industry focuses on drugs manufactured through biological methods. One of their biggest accomplishments is CodeEvolver.
CodeEvolver advances in 5 key aspects:
- Artificial Intelligence
- Biology (Of course 😁)
- Fermentation
- Chemistry
- Robotics
It allows fast development of proteins, for specific applications, like innovation in quality food products and better pharmaceuticals. And this platform seems to be working, seeing how influential biotech companies like GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) a pharmaceutical company based in Brentford, London, is paying $25 million over a span of two years to use CodeEvolver.
We should be seeing even more biotech medicine in the future, seeing how big the market for synbio has become: from 2009 to 2018, the funding for synbio companies has skyrocketed from below $1 billion all the way to $12.4 billion: There are huge opportunities to seize here!!
3.) A Greener Footprint!
When you think of CO2, undoubtedly you will have vivid images of pollution, the end of the world, and cows. Earth is plagued with excessive carbon emissions, and as an effect, there are symptoms and conditions negatively associated with carbon dioxide. For example, an article by Synbiobeta mentions LanzaTech A company that has already converted CO2 into ethanol for a year already by utilizing the metabolic system of engineered microorganisms. They have facilities even in China, where carbon pollution is such a big problem that the air is six times over the air quality guidelines issued by the World Health Organization! 🤯 Solar panels don’t even work in China, because of the smog pollution caused by coal that’s blocking the suns rays.
If LanzaTech can have their engineered microorganisms readily available in the world today, Chinese cities won’t have to suffer terrible air quality and carbon monoxide poisoning: An article by the New York Times found that 104 Chinese people died in Linfen, China, and hundreds more hospitalized.
We have a chance to fix our situation. We can have better control over our circumstances as humans, both with the environment and dealing with the negative effects of our past mistakes.
4.) Bacteria In A Material World.
Bricks are usually molded, fired up to harden, and placed in brick walls or infrastructure. But the long firing process is a huge burden to the Earth, and has a big carbon tax on our oxygen. Humans have been building things for a while, with materials obviously. But what’s not so obvious is that material innovation is the big idea behind bioMASON, a company that is literally growing bricks!!!
The CEO of bioMASON, Ginger Krieg Dosier had a love for coral reefs, an wondered how they were built. Coral reefs are made of calcium carbonate, and these corals were originally alive! This experience sparked Ginger’s love for biology and her leading of a big development in synbio!
These bacterial bricks are grown using this process:
Sand is the aggregate (aggregate means to collect into a mass or whole) that is added with the bacterium Sporosarcina Pasteurii. This is a special organism, because if calcium and urea is introduced to the bacterium it initiates the process of biological cementation: This is how it’s done.
These bricks are created in a process that has the potential to be deployed on site: construction sites, that is. Construction workers can literally grow bricks, with sand and bacteria juice! Anyone can do it, and that’s one of the superpowers of synbio:
it’s so easy to do that undergrads in iGEM competitions can build their own complex systems to innovate an E. Coli organism to help with deadly gut aches in Taiwan.
It’s as amazing as creating ice cream without lactose or milk, without hurting cows, and actually being able to eat flora based dairy protein!
From building walls up with biologically grown bricks, to improving China’s pollution problem with genetically engineered microorganisms:
synthetic biology has the power of multi-disciplinary fields in biotech and even outside of biotech, and it’s already made an impression on thousands of people… Soon, that number will grow to billions. And one day, who knows?
Synbio could be the key to saving Earth.
My name is Nathaniel Renteria, and my long-term goal in life is to break the script and become a professional in Biotechnology!
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