How are Scientists Able to Artificially Synthesize a Virus?
The world’s first artificial virus was synthesized in late 2003 by a research team led by Craig Venter, who was also responsible for the first sequencing of the human genome. The virus was a Phi-X174 bacteriophage (bacteria-eater) whose genome has 5,000 base pairs, or nucleotides. In comparison, the human genome has around 3 billion base pairs. The polio virus, with 7,500 base pairs, has also been synthesized from scratch. Synthesizing the Phi-X174 virus was a rapid task — with contemporary technology, it only took two weeks. Synthesizing other virii has taken months. The process begins with the synthesis of oligonucleotides, which are small lengths of nucleotide (DNA or RNA) with around twenty or fewer base pairs each. Because biologists have already been synthesizing oligonucleotides for years, DNA synthesis machines exist that are capable of manufacturing them automatically. Designing the oligonucleotides for the Phi-X174 virus only took about eight hours, followed by a four-day sy
