It may not be creation ex nihilo but it is as close to proof of creation via intelligent design we have gotten thus far. Creation ex nihilo refers to the creation of something, such as life, the universe and everything, out of nothing. The proof we have is of creation from preexisting materials in a new form.
A news release titled “Scripps Research Institute Scientists Create First Living Organism that Transmits Added Letters in DNA ‘Alphabet’” elucidates the results. “The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is one of the world’s largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences”:
“Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have engineered a bacterium whose genetic material includes an added pair of DNA ‘letters,’ or bases, not found in nature. The cells of this unique bacterium can replicate the unnatural DNA bases more or less normally, for as long as the molecular building blocks are supplied.”
Scientists and engineered means that intelligent, highly educated, trained and experienced people applied their knowledge and much lab equipment towards a desired result; they conceived of, formulated and carried out a specified set of actions. Moreover, the creation is dependent of its creators as molecular building blocks must be continuously supplied. The bacterium only consists of new sequences of previously existing materials, “an added pair of DNA ‘letters,’ or bases.”
“‘Life on Earth in all its diversity is encoded by only two pairs of DNA bases, A-T and C-G, and what we’ve made is an organism that stably contains those two plus a third, unnatural pair of bases,’ said TSRI Associate Professor Floyd E. Romesberg, who led the research team. ‘This shows that other solutions to storing information are possible and, of course, takes us closer to an expanded-DNA biology that will have many exciting applications—from new medicines to new kinds of nanotechnology.’”
Prof. Romesberg foresees a future of nano information storage and, we may add, conceivably; designer organisms such as animals and humans.
Some of the technical info is as follows:
“the team synthesized a stretch of circular DNA known as a plasmid and inserted it into cells of the common bacterium E. coli. The plasmid DNA contained natural T-A and C-G base pairs along with the best-performing unnatural base pair Romesberg’s laboratory had discovered, two molecules known as d5SICS and dNaM. The goal was to get the E. coli cells to replicate this semi-synthetic DNA as normally as possible.
Perhaps, they have also hit upon a new era of bodybuilding…and, you know, helping the diseased and stuff:
“‘In principle, we could encode new proteins made from new, unnatural amino acids—which would give us greater power than ever to tailor protein therapeutics and diagnostics and laboratory reagents to have desired functions,’ Romesberg said. ‘Other applications, such as nanomaterials, are also possible.’” [emphasis added for emphasis]
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