Scientists have voiced serious concern about the potential consequences of man-made “mirror bacteria”, they forewarn it could have the ability to end all life on earth
World leading scientists have warned of a new man-made “mirror bacteria” that could potentially endanger all life on earth.
The warnings come due to the nature of “mirror bacteria’s” molecular structure that is fundamentally different from all known life. New life, with these unique structural properties, could pose a significant risk to not just ecosystems but also to human health if not managed with care.
Traditional life consists of molecules arranged in a particular structure, “right-handed” nucleoids, DNA and RNA, and “left handed.” proteins which are the building blocks of cells.
However, “mirror bacteria”, a hypothetical synthetic form of characteristics, are reversed or “mirrored”.
Because of their unique features, synthetic bacteria could evade natural predators such as viruses and microbes that keep bacterial populations in check.
“A synthesized mirrored microbe wouldn’t just be essentially invisible to animals and likely plants but also other microbes, including viruses that could attack and kill it,” said Vaugh Cooper, a microbiologist from the University of Pittsburgh said.
While this threat is currently speculative, scientists have said the possibility demanded a degree of care and consideration to ensure scientific progress and the public’s safety were aligned.
Mirror bacteria are still a theoretical concept and something that we likely won’t see for a few decades, scientists have welcomed the opportunity here to consider the pre-emptive risks before they arise.
Due to the unique protein structure of “Mirror bacteria” they cannot evolve naturally and must be created artificially in a lab, however, to achieve this will still require “substantial scientific breakthroughs in synthetic cell research”.
Despite this, Dr Patrick Cai, a leading synthetic scientist expert at the University of Manchester, still warns of the potential consequences of ignoring potential threats the discovery may hold.
“We cannot rule out a scenario in which a mirror bacterium acts as an invasive species across many ecosystems, causing pervasive lethal infection in a substantial fraction of plant and animal species, including humans,”
Despite this caution around “mirror bacteria” scientists said some technologies that did not “directly lead to mirror bacteria” could be used for advancing research on medicine.
As Dr Cai “We do not recommend restricting any of these areas of research. I hope this is the start of many discussions engaging and broader communities and stakeholders soon.”
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