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Very Short Introductions #573
علم الأحياء التخليقي: مقدمة قصيرة جدًّا
يُعَد علم الأحياء التخليقي أحدَ المجالات البحثية الأسرع نموًّا في القرن الحادي والعشرين. وهو مجال انبثق من الهندسة الوراثية التقليدية ويستخدم مساراتٍ ووحداتٍ تركيبية متعدِّدةِ الجينات لإحداثِ تغييراتٍ مهمة للغاية فيما تستطيع الخلايا فِعله. ويقدِّم هذا الكتاب من سلسلة «مقدمة قصيرة جدًّا» عرضًا موجَزًا لمجال علم الأحياء التخليقي، من جذوره التاريخية، وأدواته التقنية، إلى إنجازاته العملية، مع محاوَلة لرسم حدود إمكاناته التقنية وما يحدُّه من قيود غير تقنية أيضًا. ويوضح الكتاب كيف بدأ يؤثر هذا العلم في العديد من مجالات التكنولوجيا؛ مثل صناعة الأدوية الجديدة، وإنتاج الوَقود الحيوي، والتعامل مع مشكلة التلوث، والتشخيص الطبي، ويشير أيضًا إلى إمكانية إنشاء حياة جديدة من موادَّ غيرِ حية. تناول المؤلِّف أيضًا الجدلَ الهائل المثار حول علم الأحياء التخليقي، وفي نفسه مخاوفُ من أن تكون أخطار الحياة المُخلَّقة أكثر من فوائدها.
140 pages, ebook
Published August 31, 2023
36 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 16, 2022
Jamie A. Davies delivers a very readable introduction to synthetic biology. For best results you'll probably want to have some familiarity with genetics, biochemistry, ethics, and perhaps a bit of the debate between vitalists (dualists) vs. materialists. If anything's unclear there are Wikipedia articles and other titles in the VSI series to provide background (e.g., Genes: A Very Short Introduction; Genomics: A Very Short Introduction; Viruses: A Very Short Introduction; and others).
Perhaps my favorite part of the book described the "remote-control worm" - an unfortunae individual of Caenorhabditis elegans made to crawl around and change direction on a scientist's command. There was no mention in the book as to when we may expect remote-control people although sometimes it seems Fox News has already figured that out.
In the last chapter, Davies expresses skepticism about the feasibility of a pathogen engineered to target only individuals of a particular race or ethnicity, given that the clustering of genetic similarity in human population groups is "only" statistical. But that only seems to mean that such a weapon could have at most similarly statistical accuracy. Given that there are genetic markers enabling highly-accurate determination of an individual's race (very handy in forensic science), it seems at least hypothetically possible for an engineered pathogen to target individuals with those same markers. And if it's not perfectly accurate, what terrorist would care? In every war there are friendly-fire casualties. And ordinary terrorists occasionally blow themselves up by accident when they make bombs. It would seem to me that if someone were crazy enough to build a weapon to target persons of a given race or ethnicity, such a person might not demand high precision. Not many terrorists seem to worry much about collateral damage.
In any case, even if it's not possible to target members of an ethic group, how about individuals or biological relatives? A pathogen designed to spread easily in a population, producing no symptoms in everybody except for one high-value targeted individual would seem to have plenty of uses. Instead of sending in the Seals to assassinate Osama bin Laden, you could just have an infected agent sneeze on his kids.
I suspect a larger problem with such an engineered pathogen would be evolution. When microbes get into the wild they start evolving. There would be strong selective pressure on a microbial species to target more hosts, rather than to hurt its own chances by remaining narrowly targeted.
Perhaps my favorite part of the book described the "remote-control worm" - an unfortunae individual of Caenorhabditis elegans made to crawl around and change direction on a scientist's command. There was no mention in the book as to when we may expect remote-control people although sometimes it seems Fox News has already figured that out.
In the last chapter, Davies expresses skepticism about the feasibility of a pathogen engineered to target only individuals of a particular race or ethnicity, given that the clustering of genetic similarity in human population groups is "only" statistical. But that only seems to mean that such a weapon could have at most similarly statistical accuracy. Given that there are genetic markers enabling highly-accurate determination of an individual's race (very handy in forensic science), it seems at least hypothetically possible for an engineered pathogen to target individuals with those same markers. And if it's not perfectly accurate, what terrorist would care? In every war there are friendly-fire casualties. And ordinary terrorists occasionally blow themselves up by accident when they make bombs. It would seem to me that if someone were crazy enough to build a weapon to target persons of a given race or ethnicity, such a person might not demand high precision. Not many terrorists seem to worry much about collateral damage.
In any case, even if it's not possible to target members of an ethic group, how about individuals or biological relatives? A pathogen designed to spread easily in a population, producing no symptoms in everybody except for one high-value targeted individual would seem to have plenty of uses. Instead of sending in the Seals to assassinate Osama bin Laden, you could just have an infected agent sneeze on his kids.
I suspect a larger problem with such an engineered pathogen would be evolution. When microbes get into the wild they start evolving. There would be strong selective pressure on a microbial species to target more hosts, rather than to hurt its own chances by remaining narrowly targeted.
February 16, 2022
It's a wonderful piece of writing ..... True to its name , it's a very good short introduction to Synthetic Biology to a layman.
Detailed review will follow
Detailed review will follow
April 2, 2023
Great introduction into the topic.
Detailed enough to learn a lot, broad enough to get a good overview of everything that’s happening (which is mindblowing).
Could have taken ethical issues (like the spreading of modified dna) more seriously though. Still 5 stars because it’s still a really nice intro into the subject
Detailed enough to learn a lot, broad enough to get a good overview of everything that’s happening (which is mindblowing).
Could have taken ethical issues (like the spreading of modified dna) more seriously though. Still 5 stars because it’s still a really nice intro into the subject
August 3, 2020
Well written. Brief enough to be read on a flight but detailed enough to capture the essence of synthetic biology.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews