Are Synthetic Genomes Parts of a Genetic Lineage
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8397895 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gunnar Babcock (0000-0001-6197-7921, University at Albany, State University of New York, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 72 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 995-1011 |
| Publication date | 2021-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-0882 • E-ISSN: 1464-3537 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjps/axz046 |
| OpenAlex | W2979909390 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 15 |
Biologists are nearing the creation of the first fully synthetic eukaryotic genome. Does this mean that we still soon be able to create genomes that are parts of an existing genetic lineage? If so, it might be possible to bring back extinct species. But do genomes that are synthetically assembled, no matter how similar they are to native genomes, really belong to the genetic lineage on which they were modelled? This article will argue that they are situated within the same genetic lineage. To see why requires closely examining whether material overlap between parents and offspring is a necessary feature of biological reproduction. The processes used to create synthetic genomes shows that these processes are a form of scaffolded reproduction because they use external machinery and take ownership of the material parts used to create synthetic genomes. Closely examining these processes also reveals, surprisingly, that ‘synthetic reproduction’ can take place between entities that don’t participate in the same biological lineages.
Biology · Computational biology · Evolutionary biology · Gene · Genome · Lineage (genetic) · Reproduction · Situated · Synthetic biology · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Evolution and Genetic Dynamics · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Genetics · Genome Rearrangement Algorithms
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2021 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |