Approaching “kill us all” mirror life – can it be made safe?

5 points by jarekd ↗ HN
There is a possibility of synthesizing mirror version of our life (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_life ) - with cells built of mirror versions of standard molecules (enantiomers), and we are currently approaching this point:

2002 - synthetic virus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_virology

2010 - synthetic cell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_cell#Synthetic_cells

2013 - synthetic ribosome: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_ribosome

2016 - synthesizing working large mirror protein (polymerase) in a lab in China: https://www.nature.com/news/mirror-image-enzyme-copies-looking-glass-dna-1.19918

2018 - "How biologists are creating life-like cells from scratch": https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07289-x

However, it is also opening a Pandora box - completely new microbes, probably toxic for higher life through unwanted interactions, which might dominate the ecosystem due to nearly not having compatible natural enemies. Here is a WIRED article estimating that mirror cyanobacteria could eradicate our type of life on Earth in a few centuries through CO2 consumption alone: "Mirror-image cells could transform science - or kill us all" https://www.wired.com/2010/11/ff_mirrorlife/

How much time it will take to reach first mirror ribosome? Mirror cell?

They are talking about including safeguards in such synthetic microbes - can we be sure that they are sufficient?

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