Synthetic Society/SB Reality

Construction Technology
Conclusion: It is possible to construct any piece of DNA. Characteristics as of 1 February 2006: Examples & Reference Material:
 * Cost. ~$1 per bp
 * Length. ~100 bp direct chemical synthesis, ~15,000 bp PCR assembly, ~3,500,000 bp inchworm elongation
 * Error Rate. From 1:10 to effectively zero
 * Time. 6 hours for 100 bp, 2-6 weeks for 15,000 bp, ~2 months for 50,000 bp, ~7 years for 3,500,000 bp
 * Diversity. From one molecule to millions of molecules (heavily dependent on method)
 * Terms of Sale. Varied (from no-strings-attached to full-rights-reserved).
 * 1) Ref1 pmid=16210530
 * 2) Ref2 pmid=12114528
 * 3) Ref3 pmid=14657399
 * 4) Ref4 pmid=16236728
 * 5) Ref5 pmid=11774510
 * 6) Ref6 pmid=11044104
 * 7) Ref7 pmid=12089556
 * 8) Ref8 pmid=11861859
 * 9) Ref9 pmid=15496466
 * Craig Venter on "Gene Synthesis Technology: State of the Science" at 1 July 2005 NSABB meeting, Real Audio webcast
 * HINT: Fast-forward to 11 minutes and 30 seconds into the webcast

Ownership, Sharing, & Innovation Technology
MTA examples

Example 1 From: hkeller@MIT.EDU Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: Strain request Date: January 31, 2006 2:41:31 PM EST To: endy@mit.edu I just spoke with about getting copies of the entire series. I explicitly told her I work for you (she asked in what capacity). She did ask why we wanted them and I told her to test them out with some of our constructs to see how useful they are. She is going to send me a sample MTA agreement (via e-mail) by the end of the week. She warned me of the following: 1) They require signature of an MTA before release of the strains (which we knew already). 2) We must provide them with a detailed experimental plan specifying how we plan to use the strains. 3) The strains cannot leave our lab. 4) They request that we share any results that we obtain using the strain(s). 5) No changes can be made to the chromosome of any of the strains. 6) There is a small transfer fee associated with obtaining the strains (she said she would have to speak with to determine what the exact amount is). I'll forward the MTA on when I receive it. Do you still want to proceed with this, knowing the above?

Example 2 From: "Alex Mallet"  Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 15:12:39 Subject: MTA for Tet system Hi Drew - Are you ok with me asking the fellow in Germany who developed the [reverse] Tet system that the van Oudenaarden lab is using for an MTA ? thanks, Alex. And so on... BioBrick Examples Begin forwarded message: From: Date: January 23, 2006 7:53:14 PM EST To: endy@mit.edu Cc: Subject: Synthetic Biology Dear Dr. Endy, My name is . I am a graduate student in at UCLA. I am attempting to construct a gene circuit using the tetR repressor for a metabolic engineering project and I was wondering if it would be possible to obtain your plasmid pSB1A2 containing part BBa_C0040 (a degradable form of the tetR repressor) from the BioBricks project. Thank you for your assistance. Sincerely,  On Jan 23, 2006, at 11:54 PM, Drew Endy wrote: Randy, Part request from UCLA below. Best, Drew Begin forwarded message: From: Randy Rettberg  Date: January 24, 2006 5:54:41 AM EST To: Drew Endy  Subject: Re: Synthetic Biology Sent on to Meagan. I am off to the EU and Cambridge. Randy On Jan 31, 2006, at 10:59 AM, Drew Endy wrote: Hi , Just a follow-up to your email. Hopefully Meagan has been in touch with you already (below). But, FYI, request received and should be arriving shortly / arrived. Best, Drew From: @ucla.edu Subject: Re: BioBrick request Date: January 31, 2006 2:03:44 PM EST To: endy@mit.edu Dr. Endy- Thank you for your assistance. The part was received late last week. Sincerely, 