Such artificial life forms, with no mother or father, may sound like science fiction, but I am convinced that they will soon be a reality. The scientific and technical requirements needed for manufacturing these organisms are already in place.

Technological advances

For one thing, we can draw on the achievements of several decades of molecular and systems biology research. Nowadays, we understand the “blueprints of life” to a great degree of detail. Digital databases store over 200,000 genome sequences from a broad range of organisms providing us access to a wealth of molecular building plans. By cleverly combining or modifying known genetic functions, bioengineers can develop microorganisms with new and useful characteristics.

Furthermore, just a few years ago, synthesising whole genomes of microorganisms from scratch was still incredibly time-consuming and implied an enormous – and financially daunting – feat. Thanks to computer algorithms, today it is possible to simplify genomes so that they are easier to produce. DNA synthesis methods, too, have become much more efficient due to technological advancements. Bioengineers are now capable of printing DNA molecules quickly and precisely directly on a silicon chip.

These advances will soon allow bioengineers to draft a genome on the drawing board, implant it into cell envelopes, and thus develop microorganisms for new, useful applications.

Broad areas of application

Such organisms offer plenty of opportunities – particularly in medicine and the biotechnological manufacturing of therapeutic agents. Allow me to highlight just a few examples. One is vaccine production. Developing and manufacturing a vaccine is a race against time – not only for the seasonal flu, especially for outbreaks of emerging diseases, as we are currently experiencing with the coronavirus epidemic.

Artificial bacteria could be used as a novel kind of vaccine: it is conceivable to make bacteria that are completely harmless to the human body, but carry fragments of pathogens on their surface. Such organisms could teach the immune system to efficiently recognise the pathogens and defend against them. This approach is significantly faster and less expensive than the conventional, expensive production of protein vaccines.