The team of researchers involved in the study have called for a global debate on the work.
A group of world-leading scientists have called for a halt on research to create ‘mirror life’ microbes after they discovered that it poses a significant risk to human and animal life.
Microbiologists fear that this bacteria could infect the immune systems of living things, putting humans, animals and plants at risk of contracting fatal infections.
These bacteria are constructed from mirror images of molecules found in nature. The DNA of all living organisms is made from ‘right-handed’ nucleotides, while proteins, the building blocks of cells, are made from ‘left-handed’ amino acids.
An international group of Nobel laureates from prestigious institutions such as Stanford, Yale and MIT in the US and the University of Cambridge in the UK have been studying the substance for quite some time.
This week, they released an urgent warning in Science magazine, claiming that the development of these ‘mirror life’ molecules could potentially have disastrouous effects on human and animal life.
In the report, Professor Vaughn Cooper, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Pittsburgh, said: “The threat we’re talking about is unprecedented.
“Mirror bacteria would likely evade many human, animal and plant immune system responses and in each case would cause lethal infections that would spread without check,” he added.
The most immediate concern is that mirror bacteria could evade the immune systems of humans, animals and plants.
“Our analysis suggests that mirror bacteria would likely evade many immune mechanisms… potentially causing lethal infection in humans, animals, and plants….”
“We cannot rule out a scenario in which a mirror bacterium acts as an invasive species across many ecosystems, causing pervasive lethal infections in a substantial fraction of plant and animal species, including humans.“
Our immune defences rely on recognising conserved molecular patterns found in natural pathogens (an organism or other agent – such as a virus – that causes disease), all of which are built from left-handed amino acids. Mirror bacteria would lack these recognisable patterns, rendering our immune systems blind to their presence.
The scientists’ warning about mirror life is striking – in part because it appears in such a prestigious academic journal, but also because it is underpinned by a rigorous 300-page technical analysis.
Their stark message might sound like the plot of a sci-fi thriller, but the concerns are grounded in valid scientific reasoning.
Luckily for life on earth, the technical barriers to creating full mirror life remain significant, providing the global community with ample time to consider its response.
The scientists also acknowledge that, beyond research driven purely by curiosity, they struggle to conceive of any compelling justification for developing full mirror organisms.
They argue that by acting now, we can guide the development of mirror biomolecules responsibly, while ensuring that the creation of full mirror life is prevented – unless its risks are unequivocally understood and mitigated.
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The report continues: “We therefore recommend that research with the goal of creating mirror bacteria not be permitted, and that funders make clear that they will not support such work.
“We recommend that initially, steps be taken to prevent the production of mirror genomes and proteomes, or functional equivalents sufficient to enable the construction of a mirror cell.
“We also recommend research to better understand and prepare for risks from mirror bacteria, as long as neither mirror bacteria nor any key enabling precursors are produced,” the team of scientists add. “Such research might include studying the interaction of mirror biomolecules with the immune system as well as developing detection methods and biosurveillance systems.
“None of these research directions would require mirror bacteria to be built.”
