On December 12, Science magazine published an article signed by 38 researchers entitled “Considering the risks of Mirror Life” The authors, a group of scientists internationally recognized for their contributions to genetics; synthetic biology; physiology, immunology and global health, make a very serious call – without alarmism, or resorting to conspiracy theory – to the scientific community, to governments, to donor agencies, to decision makers, to industry, to society and the general public to start the debate about the risks of creating “Mirror Life” on the planet.
The authors propose to start a responsible debate using as a reference document the Technical Report on mirror bacteria: viability and risks published on the website of the Stanford University. The 299-page report describes the technical feasibility of creating mirror bacteria and the potentially serious and wide-ranging risks they could pose to humans, other animals, plants and the environment. Although the article and report focus on mirror bacteria (single-celled beings), they recognize that many of the considerations could also apply to other forms of mirror life. A generic term would be mirror biology, as it would involve the inclusion of entities such as viruses. Although viruses are not considered life, their molecular structures reflect the complexity of systems that could arise in a mirror world.
What is “Mirror Life”?
“Mirror Life” arises in chemistry and biology by using the concept of chirality. That is, many molecules essential to life, such as amino acids and sugars, exist in two forms that are mirror images of each other, like our left and right hands. In biological systems on Earth, the amino acids that make up proteins have a left-handed orientation (they rotate counterclockwise), while the sugars that make up DNA and RNA have a right-handed orientation (they rotate in the same direction). clockwise). Curiously, terrestrial life has chosen to exclusively use these configurations, which is why the first sentence of the Science report states…all known life is homochiral…
However, in the laboratory you can create proteins whose amino acids rotate in the same clockwise direction and sugars that rotate in the opposite direction when forming DNA or RNA, consequently producing inverted chirality or mirror life. For this reason, the article alerts us to carry out more studies and more research to better understand the risks of reversing cellular chirality. In the absence of convincing evidence for certainty, the authors recommend “that bacteria and other mirror organisms should not be created at this time.” They therefore call for broad participation to determine the path forward…mirror bacteria would likely evade many human, animal and plant immune system responses and in each case cause lethal infections that would spread uncontrollably…”
To be more specific, the defense mechanisms of the human immune system and other organisms are chiral and highly specific. This means that they are designed to recognize, attack and neutralize molecules and biological structures that match natural chirality (L-amino acids in proteins, D-sugars in nucleic acids). Therefore, a virus or bacteria based on opposing chiral molecules would be virtually invisible to the immune system. Put another way, let’s imagine that the immune system is a lock designed only to interact with keys of a specific configuration: proteins and molecules of standard chirality are like correct keys that fit into this lock, in contrast, proteins of opposite chirality would be like mirrored keys that cannot fit into the lock because their shape is the opposite.
Challenges for mirror bacteria production
There are currently laboratories making large, functional mirror molecules to study them more closely, but some scientists have also taken small steps towards creating mirror bacteria. Although building an entire organism from mirror molecules is known to be beyond current knowledge, the authors predict that the creation of a mirror cell would take at least 10 more years.
Creating a complete living system continues to be a challenge for science since it is necessary to build all the pieces of a cell in mirror form: proteins, cell membranes, nucleic acids, etc. If we ask ChatGPT about the years it will take for the world’s scientists to achieve the creation of mirror cellular life, considering advances in synthetic biology, genetics and chemistry, the answer is that it will take between 10 and 20 years for the mirror cells to be built. crucial tools and milestones, but they would not be ways of life. The AI predicts that between 20 and 50 years there would be a mirror protocell that can replicate and metabolize.
As science moves towards the possibility of creating mirror organisms, it is essential to reflect not only on the technical challenges, but also on the ethical and social implications. Are we prepared to live with ways of life totally different from ours?
Opening a broad debate in Mexico cannot be postponed.
For now, the interested scientific community and the authorities of the brand new Secretary of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation have the floor.
*The author is a Full Professor of the Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, UNAM and Professor Emeritus of the Department of Health Measurement Sciences, University of Washington. The opinions expressed in this article do not represent the position of the institutions where the author works.
X: @DrRafaelLozano
