Just What Is Synthetic Biology? :The Scientist [2006-01-01]


	The article you are attempting to read is Premium content which is only available to our online subscribers.

Subscribing to The Scientist is easy and inexpensive.

And you can choose from many options. Try us out with an online day pass starting at only $4.95. Or, get it all with unlimited online access to The Scientist Archive and door-to-door delivery of our monthly print magazine.


	The Scientist also offers site licenses to institutions and organizations. When your librarian adds The Scientist to the library's collection, you can get unlimited online access through your place of work or study. Recommend The Scientist today



Just What Is Synthetic Biology? The term "synthetic biology" appears in the title of a 1913 Nature article but then disappears until the 1980s, at which point its use seems interchangeable with recombinant DNA technology. today, the term is used to describe the wholesale engineering of genetic circuits, entire genomes, and even organisms and has appeared in nearly 50 papers since 2000. nevertheless, the