Mirror bacteria and viruses are life forms designed to mirror life on Earth. It can be used as a tool to treat diseases, but some scientists are worried about the possible harmful effects on public health. Although the correct creation of mirror bacteria is still a long time away, a group of experts has requested that research be stopped completely.
Considering…
A group of scientists have warned against the development of the mirror bacteria in a report published in the newspaper Science. The direction of a molecule is called its chirality, and this direction determines its structure and function. In nature, “DNA and RNA are made of ‘right-handed’ nucleotides and proteins are made of ‘left-handed’ amino acids,” the report said. ,” researchers “have begun work on creating life forms made entirely of mirror image molecules,” also known as mirror life.
“Mirror molecules can be turned into treatments for chronic and difficult-to-treat diseases, while mirror microbes can create bioproduction tools, which use microbes to produce chemicals, which are resistant and infection,” said. Caretaker. Researchers are interested in their use to make long-acting drugs for diseases such as HIV and Alzheimer’s. “It’s naturally fun,” Kate Adamala, a synthetic biologist at the University of Minnesota, said in. New York Times. “If we could make a mirror cell, we would have made a second tree of life.”
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Despite the potential benefits, mirror bacteria “have unprecedented and largely overlooked risks,” the report said. This is because “the immune system relies on recognizing specific molecular structures found in invading bacteria,” he said. CNN. If these structures were to become visible, “cognition would be impaired and the immune system would fail, which would leave pathogens vulnerable to infection.” On the other hand, infections caused by mirror bacteria can be fatal, and mirror bacteria themselves can be considered invasive species.
High risk, low reward
Although there would not be “many molecules living in the human body for a mirror cell to feed itself,” because their pride is different from ours, the body ” you can get enough to grow slowly,” said the Times. “And if the immune system doesn’t see the growing infection, it can spread without limit.” In the worst case scenario, “a mirror cell victim would have a large supply of germs, which could spread to other people and start an epidemic. And it would be one that medication can be difficult to stop.”
If research the production of mirror bacteria is not stopped, countermeasures can be taken, including “studying the interaction of mirror biomolecules with the immune system as well as improving detection methods and methods of check for bugs,” the report said. “Although preventive measures would not prevent widespread harm, they may provide limited or local protection.” There’s nothing to worry about right now. The risks are “highly speculative given that the research is very early and far from being a threat,” Tom Ellis, professor of synthetic genome engineering at Imperial College’s Institute of Synthetic Biology, told CNN. True viable mirror bacteria can take at least ten years to form, if not longer.
