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"SYNTHETIC LIFE should self-replicate, and evolve structures or processes that were not designed-in or pre-conceived by the creator. Core Wars programs, computer viruses, and worms are capable of self-replication, but fortunately, not evolution. It is unlikely that such programs will ever become fully living, because they are not likely to be able to evolve." (TS Ray). https://lnkd.in/eYcp73P View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE focuses this second and last weekend on worm talk. This discovery is quite remarkable, even in its early stages. Biologists have made disappointing progress decoding the language of vocal animals such as birds and dolphins. But here we have humble nematodes with what looks like a sophisticated language, with syntax, which was supposed to be uniquely human. One day, we might be able to have a conversation with a worm over a nice cup of tea, and discuss their view of the universe. Such a prospect! View in LinkedIn

THOMAS S RAY featured heavily in the early days of synthetic life by creating Tierra, the pre-eminent synthetic life program. He is an ecological biologist who went into synthetic modeling and came out the other end "using the genome databases to study the origin and evolution of gene families." The following few quotes are from his work. https://lnkd.in/ehJiKXf View in LinkedIn

NOT THERE YET. "A self-organizing system not only regulates or adapts its behavior, it creates its own organization. In that respect it differs fundamentally from our present systems, which are created by their designer. Self-organizing systems are intrinsically robust: they can withstand a variety of errors, perturbations, or even partial destruction." https://lnkd.in/dkkAEiE View in LinkedIn

NET AGENTS. "Many of the most promising visions of how to coordinate the far-flung communication and computing cycles of this emerging platform converge on a controversial solution: the use of self-replicators that roam the Net. Free-ranging, self-replicating programs, autonomous Net agents, digital organisms - whatever they are called, there's an old fashion word for them: computer viruses." https://lnkd.in/e6ExXVY View in LinkedIn

BIOSYNTHETIC HUB. “We further show that mutants lacking lysosome‐related organelles are defective in the production of all 4′‐modified ascarosides, thus identifying the waste disposal system of the cell as a hotspot for ascaroside biosynthesis.” https://lnkd.in/dHBmzX9 View in LinkedIn

THE HOW IS MISSING. ““The mechanisms that underlie the highly specific assembly of ascarosides are not understood. We show that the acyl‐CoA synthetase ACS‐7, which localizes to lysosome‐related organelles, is specifically required for the attachment of different building blocks to the 4′‐position of ascr#9.” https://lnkd.in/dHBmzX9 View in LinkedIn

BASIC BUILDING BLOCK. “In the ascarosides, the dideoxysugar ascarylose serves as a scaffold to which diverse moieties from lipid, amino acid, neurotransmitter, and nucleoside metabolism are attached” https://lnkd.in/dHBmzX9 View in LinkedIn

DIVERSE SET. “The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans uses simple building blocks from primary metabolism and a strategy of modular assembly to build a great diversity of signaling molecules, the ascarosides, which function as a chemical language in this model organism.” https://lnkd.in/dHBmzX9 View in LinkedIn

PRESENT IN METAZOANS? “Considering that the various building blocks are highly conserved throughout the animal kingdom, it appears possible that similar strategies to create complex modular structures through combinatorial assembly of primary metabolites are not only prevalent among nematodes, but present in metazoans in general.” https://lnkd.in/d4DhYhz View in LinkedIn