Jurassic Park Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Oligon-2

DNA synthesizer

"And beyond are the automatic DNA synthesizers."
Ian Malcolm(src)


DNA synthesis is the process in which a strand of DNA is created by linking lose nucleotides. DNA synthesis is performed by cells, but it can also be created artificially by DNA synthesizers. Artificial DNA is indistinguishable of natural DNA and is functional in living cells. Bacterial artificial chromosomes, Yeast artificial chromosomes and Human artificial chromosomes are real-life examples of synthetic DNA that are fully functional in cells.

The digital version of the dinosaur DNA must be synthesized before it can be tested or be used to create chromosomes.

Wikipedia
Wikipedia has a more detailed and comprehensive article on DNA synthesis





DNA synthesis

DNA synthesis. Picture by Nature.[1]

Jurassic Park media[]

The process of synthesizing new DNA is not mentioned in any Jurassic Park media. This created the misconception that scientists would have to re-use the actual DNA from fossils. Since the fossil DNA is incomplete and fragmented that is impossible. Many Jurassic Park critics have used this as evidence against the plausibility to clone dinosaurs.

In The Lost World the Ian Malcolm, and the other Gatherers, see DNA synthesizers in the InGen Compound.

Limits[]

Carlson longest sDNA 2010-thumb-500x457

Longest synthetic DNA.

Most dinosaurs had many but small chromosomes (see Dinosaur DNA). However, some of their chromosomes were still over 100 million base pairs long. The technology to synthesize DNA strand of that length doesn't exist yet.

Some Jurassic Park critics have noted this limitation.

We can’t just assemble chromosomes the way we can 
synthesize DNA. And until we can do that, recon- 
structing dinosaurs, Neanderthals, or any species 
from fossil DNA is simply out of the question.[2]]]

However, the maximum length of artificial DNA fragments has grown enormously in recent years (see figure).[3]

References[]

  1. Callaway E. (2014). First synthetic yeast chromosome revealed: US-based project recruited dozens of undergraduates to stitch DNA fragments together., 27 March, 2014.]
  2. Coyne J.A., Why we can’t clone a Neanderthal—or any ancient organism. Link.
  3. Carlson B. (2010). Booting Up A Synthetic Genome (Updated for typos). link
Advertisement