What: Press Teleconference on the publication of "Global Transposon Mutagenesis and a Minimal Mycoplasma Genome," in December 10 issue of Science.

Background: In 1995, TIGR researchers, led by J. Craig Venter, PhD, first showed that the complete genetic information of bacteria could be decoded by sequencing the genomes of two human pathogens, Hemophilus influenzae and Mycoplasma genitalium. This breakthrough allowed researchers to reframe the old question "What is life?" or in genetic terms, "What is a minimal set of cellular genes?" TIGR researchers have whittled away at the tiny genome of Mycoplasma genitalium whose genetic information consists of only 517 genes. They used a method they call "global transposon mutagenesis" to randomly insert unrelated DNA into the middle of genes, thereby disrupting gene function. The cells which grow and divide after this procedure can have disruptive insertions only in non-essential genes. Researchers at TIGR have now uncovered the number of non-essential and essential genes necessary for life in Mycoplasma genitalium.

Researchers for the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, Baylor University, Stanford University and other institutions have joined forces --under the banner of the Ethics of Genomics Group -- to demonstrate the need for discussing the ethical issues of medicine/science before and during the research. Using the potential creation of life in the lab as a focus, the Group identifies the ethical, social, and religious issues that will be raised by the eventual creation of the minimal genome -- before its actual creation. By applying this model of conducting discussion, reflection, and commentary prior to and during the research process to any scientific research, long-term consequences of the work -- such as public hysteria and undesirable uses of the newly-developed science can be avoided.

Participants: The Institute for Genomic Research:

• Claire M. Fraser, Ph.D., President and Director;
• Clyde A. Hutchison III, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Visiting Scientist, The Institute for Genomic Research;
• Scott N. Peterson, Ph.D., Associate Investigator;
• Steven R. Gill, Ph.D., Associate Investigator;
• Owen White, Ph.D., Deputy Director, Bioinformatics

Celera Genomics Corp.:

• J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer

University of Pennsylvania Health System:

• Arthur L. Caplan, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Bioethics;
• Mildred Cho, Ph.D., Senior Research Scholar, Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics; Visiting Fellow, Center for Bioethics;
• David Magnus, Ph.D., Director of Graduate Studies, Center for Bioethics

When: Thursday, December 9, 1999; 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. EST

Dial in Number: 1-888-455-9743

Password: TIGR (Host: Claire Fraser)

NOTE: Participants are also available for interviews after the teleconference.

Contact Dr. Craig Venter at 240-453-3500 or Dr. Arthur Caplan at 215-898-3055 or 215-898-7136.

Contact: Debbie Lebkicher, Assistant to the President
301-610-5956; [email protected]
Please confirm your participation.