Similar to most iGEM projects Incell as a scientific project heavily relies on our’s and the scientific community’s ability to genetically modify organisms. In other words, we are using and exploiting Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) to pursue our vision of an artificial endosymbiotic platform for synthetic biology. The question and debates GMOs raise all around the globe and in Europe, we have chosen to consider prior to starting our project, but when discussing our ideas and our goals, one has to look past exploration of GMOs.
This does not however mean that the topic should be taken lightly, but simply that this is not our focus, since we as a team have chosen to believe that we are working ethically sound when working in compliance with guidelines and rules on the topic of GMO laboratories.

Within these laboratories, the GMOs should be contained and thus minimizing the risk of lab generated GMOs in nature. Similarly, future GMOs generated with the “Incell artificial endosymbiotic platform” would initially be contained within labs - but what if a leak occurs?
What if an endosymbiotic relationship were to be used in plants to fixate nitrogen in a field setting?
Would the endosymbiont be able to spread from the host and invade other species?
Would it be able to live in nature? Would it encroach on other biological niches?
Which of the biological realms of life would such a host-endosymbiont GMO be a part of?

In the late days of September, we hosted an event where professionals and layman alike could join in on a lecture session followed by a panel discussion relating to the science and ethics of synthetic biology. Here more than a 100 people joined us and from this debate, we as a team gained insights into different worldviews, new perspectives on synthetic biology and some curious question, similar to the ones above.

From this debate, it became clear that one of the largest concerns were the possibilities of ecological disaster if a “break-out” of GMOs were to occur. In this initial stage of the Incell project, before the first endosymbiont has even been designed, we closely follow all lab instructions and rules for working with GMOs, thus lowering the risk for a breakout significantly. However, one of our future prospects would as mentioned previously be to use a plant host cell with a nitrogen-fixating bacterium to form a host-endosymbiont system capable of fixating nitrogen. This late stage system should be no-risk or the lowest possible risk for potential break-outs and/or endosymbiont escape from the host.
Another question is the possibility of the endosymbiont to become invasive. If it can live inside a eukaryotic cell, could it then invade other cells? Other experiments on Endosymbiosis are using Invasin proteins, to allow for endosymbionts to “penetrate” a host cell, this however is not the vision of Incell. Systems relying on Invasin require the endosymbionts to live, for brief periods, outside a host and to invade another one. For this particular reason, we chose to work on a system without Invasin, to minimize the risk of having endosymbionts invading other host cells and potentially becoming parasitic. Instead, we would suggest the usage of either a syringe or a poration method to seed the host with endosymbionts. This should eliminate the possibility of invasive and parasitic endosymbionts.

Lastly but not least, are we playing gods or toying with nature that no man (or woman) was ever meant to alter? The question many scientists in synthetic biology have faced. A question that can split the field and the public opinion on GMOs and synthetic biology. But why do we Incell mention this question? Well if we or someone else manages to setup an artificial endosymbiotic platform, we would alter and maybe fuse evolutionary paths. In the sense that an eukaryotic organism, such as baker’s yeast, would join forces with a prokaryote, such as E. coli, combining to realms of life and fusing to evolutionary strains into something else. Similar to other fields of synthetic biology this host-endosymbionts would be outside our current classification of life. However, this does not mean that we are creating life, simply that we explore the possibility of a deep and profound collaboration between species to harness some of the wonders of biology. We aim at harnessing the endosymbiotic relation to give a new tool to synthetic biology.
A tool we believe requires careful, but thorough exploration and honest consideration. So we can understand the risk mentioned above and if these can be resolved potentially use such a technology to solve some of the task we face today.

Are we playing gods? No, we are simply exploring the marvels of biology.