If this sounds revolutionary, a closer look at synthetic biology reveals much less of a technological leap than is promised by some headlines – the field relies on technology that is very much part of the bedrock of biotechnology, gene transfer and cloning, DNA synthesis and sequencing. Synthetic biology has not suddenly appeared from nowhere but largely grew out of conventional biotechnology. This is reflected in an unusually large market size for an allegedly young industry - Allied Market Research predicts a market volume of $38.7 billion in 2020. And sure enough, the important players in the field include well-known names like Dupont, Novozymes and DSM besides smaller and newer companies like Amyris or Evolva.

What, then, justifies the buzz around synthetic biology? After all, manipulating organisms to serve human purposes is not exactly a new idea, even when we disregard age-old examples like brewer’s yeast and limit ourselves to genetic engineering proper, which is now a decade-old technology in frequent use, e.g. for the production of insulin or the creation of pest-resistant crops.

Mostly, it is the scope of synthetic biology’s ambition that sets it apart - instead of transferring individual genes, e.g. for insulin into the host organism, synbio transfers or changes whole sets of genes in an organism. It aims to establish whole biochemical pathways to make a product, enabling e.g. the microbial synthesis of Stevia sweetener as currently being developed by Evolva. Synthetic biology embodies an engineering approach to biology where genes and genetic systems are functional modules. Equipped with a toolbox of standard components, the synthetic biologist should be able to combine them freely in order to create human-designed organisms. Currently, this is more a concept than reality - the complexity of biological systems is still frequently baffling wannabe engineers, as our understanding of gene interaction and expression is still incomplete.