Scientists issue an urgent warning over lab-made 'mirror bacteria' that could wipe out mankind
Top scientists have issued a serious alert about the extraordinary danger posed by artificially created life forms that could potentially endanger humanity's existence.
The term 'mirror life' refers to synthetic organisms made from mirrored counterparts of naturally occurring molecules.
Experts caution that these mirror organisms could be 'undetectable' to life on Earth, enabling them to evade the immune systems of all known living beings.
If mirror bacteria were to break out of the laboratory, there would be no barriers to stop them from settling in natural environments, potentially posing serious risks to plants, animals, and humans by causing deadly infections.
Developing mirror bacteria is still a long way off, at least ten years from now. However, in a detailed 300-page review published in the journal Science, the researchers highlight that significant advancements are already occurring.
A collective of 38 Nobel Prize winners and other specialists, including some who have attempted to develop mirror life in the past, is now advocating for a halt on all new research initiatives.
Dr. Vaughn Cooper, a microbiologist at the University of Pittsburgh and a co-author of the study, explains that this type of organism has never been present or developed before. As a result, all biological interactions would be fundamentally different or may not function at all.
"We don't want to restrict the potential of synthetic biology, but creating a synthetic bacterium poses too much of a risk."
A group of 38 prominent scientists has raised an urgent alarm about what they call 'mirror life.' This concept refers to a type of artificial life where biological molecules, such as DNA, are reversed in their orientation. For example, in mirrored DNA, the double helix would twist in the opposite direction.
Similar to how your left hand reflects the shape of your right hand, numerous biological molecules possess counterparts that are mirror images of each other, often described as left-handed and right-handed versions.
What makes this aspect crucial for biology is that it remains consistent across all species—the molecules that constitute all life forms on Earth share the same orientation.
For instance, the coiled structure of DNA twists to the right, while proteins are composed of amino acids that twist to the left.
However, according to what scientists understand, the reason our DNA is right-handed appears to be a random occurrence in evolution, and there's no evidence to suggest that life couldn't have developed from mirrored structures instead.
While mirror life may not evolve from the life forms we currently understand, researchers think it's feasible to design an organism where all of its biological molecules are the reverse of those found in nature.
The significant danger here lies in the fact that life on Earth has evolved to interact with a specific type of molecule.
Professor Gregory Winter, a Nobel Prize-winning biologist from the University of Cambridge and co-author of the study, explained to MailOnline that one concern about mirror life—specifically mirror bacteria—is that living organisms might not identify their mirror-image counterparts as "foreign." This lack of recognition could mean they wouldn't have the natural defenses needed to protect themselves from potential attacks by these mirror organisms.
Researchers are urging a halt in the development of "mirror bacteria" because these microorganisms could evade the immune systems of all living organisms on our planet, possibly resulting in serious infections.
For instance, humans would have a hard time producing antibodies to fight off mirror bacteria, making it difficult to manage an infection. The same reasoning holds true for other living beings, such as plants that are being attacked by mirror bacteria.
What Does "Mirror Life" Mean?
Life on Earth has developed with DNA that is predominantly right-handed and proteins made of left-handed amino acids. Scientists refer to this phenomenon as natural chirality.
In a mirror version of reality, every one of these molecules would have a counterpart that is their mirror image.
A mirror organism could operate just like any other living being, but there would be one key difference: the natural chiral chemical processes would not have any effect on it.
This suggests that a mirror form of bacteria would probably go unnoticed by the immune systems of any naturally occurring chiral organisms on our planet.
Similarly, the natural enemies of bacteria also depend heavily on the way their prey's molecules are structured to eliminate bacteria.
This indicates that there’s nothing preventing rogue mirror bacteria from getting into the environment and reproducing unchecked.
The writers suggest that it's possible for a mirror bacterium to invade a variety of ecosystems, leading to widespread deadly infections in many plant and animal species, including humans.
Even if people manage to protect themselves from this new danger, mirror bacteria could still disrupt significant portions of the global ecosystem.
Co-author Dr. Nicholas Talbot, a specialist in plant diseases and the executive director of the Sainsbury Laboratory, mentioned to MailOnline that it's highly probable a mirror bacterium could infect certain plants.
If essential food crops were vulnerable, the consequences would be catastrophic, in addition to the other repercussions.
The positive aspect is that we're still quite a distance away from having the technology to create life that reflects our own.
In their article, the authors point out that there have been major advancements in developing mirror molecules and building synthetic cells.
In contrast to many of the most dangerous germs known, mirror bacteria would present a unique challenge as there would be no means to protect against them. These bacteria could infect any living being, no matter what species it belongs to, which could result in severe harm to ecosystems and potentially trigger a widespread pandemic.
Nevertheless, the process of creating synthetic molecules is highly costly and would necessitate significant advancements in synthetic cell research.
Dr. Talbot explains that there are major technical challenges to developing mirror bacteria, meaning it's likely a decade or more before we can achieve this. However, he emphasizes that they were concerned enough about the potential dangers that they felt it was important to start a public conversation about this issue well in advance of any actual developments.
The researchers are urging for more careful examination of their findings and assert that, unless strong evidence arises against their stance, the development of mirror bacteria should not take place.
Although there may be some potential advantages of mirror bacteria, like the creation of biological drugs and uses in medicine, the authors believe that the associated risks outweigh these benefits.
Dr. Cooper wraps up by stating, "Creating such an organism would demand an immense amount of work. However, we need to halt this advancement and engage in a structured, inclusive discussion on how to manage this effectively."
How Close Are We To Creating Mirror Life?
The current biological handedness of life on Earth is widely thought to be a result of a random evolutionary twist.
This suggests that there’s no reason why mirror life couldn’t evolve and thrive.
Because evolution occurs through gradual changes, it's impossible for mirror life to develop from the existing forms of life on Earth.
The only way to create mirror life would be for researchers to construct the organism entirely from artificially made mirror molecules.
Achieving this, even for something as basic as a bacterium, is currently beyond the reach of any scientific achievement to date.
Scientists are progressively learning to assemble intricate mirror-image molecules using fundamental chemical components.
Recently, scientists have successfully developed substantial working mirror proteins and even parts of mirror DNA.
Meanwhile, researchers are quickly advancing in the development of artificial cells.
Once researchers succeed in building a cell from naturally occurring, non-living components, they'll be free to apply this method to artificial, mirrored elements.
Nonetheless, the technology needed for this is not only far more advanced than anything we've ever achieved, but it would also come with an incredibly high price tag.
At present, scientists believe it will take roughly ten years to develop the first mirror organism, unless measures are taken to stop this line of research.
