Waiting for Synthia - that has been the script for enthusiasts of synthetic life for the past two years, ever since genomics pioneer Craig Venter promised to unveil a living bacterial cell carrying a genome made from scratch in the lab. 2010 is the year for him to deliver.
Synthia is the popular name for a species containing a lab-built set of genetic instructions that are close to the minimum necessary to support bacterial life - based on the DNA of a microbe called Mycoplasma genitalium.
When Venter announced the creation of a synthetic M. genitalium genome in January 2008, Synthia's birth was thought to be imminent. Just months before, his team had demonstrated the technology for smuggling the DNA into a living bacterial cell, by performing a "genome transplant" between two different Mycoplasma species.
But perfecting the method so that Synthia's DNA will "boot up" inside a bacterial cell stripped of its own genome has proved harder than Venter anticipated. His team has had to battle various problems, including host-cell enzymes that seek and destroy alien DNA.
Elsewhere, other researchers are working on the component parts of an entirely synthetic cell. George Church of Harvard University has already announced that his team has made a self-assembling ribosome - the cellular factory responsible for making proteins. He expects the next step - to get synthetic ribosomes to self-replicate - to happen in 2010.
A completely synthetic cell remains a distant goal, however. So let's hope "Waiting for Synthia" gets a new final act sometime soon. Venter has shown that he can handle being criticised for playing God. But for someone with his reputation for achievement, playing Godot can't be so much fun.
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