On December 12, the American magazine Science highlighted a report focusing on the “mirror bacteria”. At the origin of the latter, nearly 40 scientists, eager to warn of “new forms of mirror life” which do not yet exist, but could represent a danger for humanity within a decade. We tell you more.
This is a major discovery. In a report cited in the American magazine Science, dated December 12, 38 scientists warned of the creation of “mirror bacteria”. That is, synthetic organisms in which the molecular structure found in nature is reversed and could put humans, animals and plants at risk of exposure to dangerous pathogens.
“The threat we are talking about is unprecedented”
The study carried out on the subject is entitled “Facing the risks of “mirror life”” and contains 299 pages. The latter aims to warn of the danger of “mirror bacteria”, a form of life which does not exist naturally, and which some scientists would like to recreate.
The term “mirror” is explained by the fact that many molecules of life can exist in two distinct forms, each being the mirror image of the other. Also, the DNA of all living organisms is made up of “right-handed” nucleotides, and proteins, the constituent elements of cells made from amino acids, called “left-handed”.
Thus, several research teams, driven by their curiosity, have gone so far as to work on the creation of bacteria constructed from mirror images of molecules found in nature. The Guardian reports that these molecules could be transformed “into therapies for chronic and hard-to-treat diseases, while the mirror microbes could make bioproduction facilities – which use microbes to produce chemicals – more resistant to contamination” .
“The threat we are talking about is unprecedented,” Professor Vaughn Cooper emphasizes in the report. “Mirror bacteria would likely evade many human, animal and plant immune system responses and, in each case, cause deadly infections that spread unchecked,” he adds.
Organizations out of control
To understand the extent of the fear of these scientists, we must go back to May 21, 2010. At the time, the same Science magazine gave pride of place to a major advance in the scientific field: a “first cell controlled by a genome synthetic” developed by a biotechnology research team. In other words, these scientists succeeded in manufacturing, by chemical synthesis, the entire DNA of a bacteria and demonstrated that it functions normally. If this discovery had the effect of a bomb in the research community, decades later, he is backtracking.
The immune defenses of humans, animals, and plants rely on the recognition of molecular shapes present in invading bacteria. If these shapes were to be reflected, as in mirror bacteria, then recognition would be altered and many basic immune defenses could fail. And thus, making organisms more vulnerable to infection.
A round table in 2025
The experts behind the study therefore fear that these so-called “mirror” organisms are slipping out of control.
Although creating mirror life is not yet a reality, given the need for significant investments and major technical advances, scientists have already succeeded in manufacturing functional mirror molecules in order to study them more closely.
The authors of the report plan to organize a round table within the Pasteur Institute in 2025, with the aim of addressing the measures that could be taken to prevent the risks linked to “mirror bacteria”
