The Age of Aquarius – Magazine ?

Upon reaching the moon, human beings radically changed their vision of the planet. When exploring the structure of the nucleus of our cells, something similar happened but inwards: we understood the basic instructions that define life and, perhaps, a new era began.

For several decades now I have been wondering when the famous aquarius era. My curiosity started since she was listening Hairthat famous rock opera from the sixties where there were some references based on the house in which the Moon was located and the position of Jupiter, and my generation sang in chorus: “This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius….”

The idea of ​​the age of Aquarius generated a pleasant and double illusion in me: one for the simple fact of living in it, and the other, because being the sign of Aquarius myself, it would have some additional advantage. But if I have problems with references in the real world, things could only get complicated in the fantasy world. It’s not that I thought that any stellar event was going to change the course of things on our planet, but with so many social, political and cultural changes in recent times, it had gotten into my head that one of them all, the most Importantly, perhaps, it could be representative of the dream of an entire generation to achieve a transformation for the benefit of humanity, worthy of carrying a name that would reach the constellations: what marks the beginning of the age of Aquarius? I was wondering. A friend who wears a turban asserts: “It depends on what you believe!” As obviously all this is part of the world of illusions to date I still wonder, and I ask you: and what do you think? Within the episodes that we have had to live through, which one could be pointed out as the one that marks the beginning of a new era? After doing a survey among the people who circulate through my laboratory, and despite the strange gestures that my question generated, I obtained consensus on two answers, corresponding to two events that, according to this non-representative sample of earthlings, including me, could stand out as radicals in the direction of planetary society. The first is the arrival of man to the satellite that has witnessed the passage of all eras on the human species: the Moon. Not so much because of the repercussions that the event had on our work, but rather because of its impact on the way we see ourselves and our home, planet Earth. From that event, I want to think, the human being becomes aware of global belonging, not only to his Earth, but to his planet; of his responsibility for the great blue abode and of the unity of our lives as a consequence of sharing the most beautiful house, which is everyone’s. The second has to do with the arrival of man to the nucleus of his cells: the deciphering of the human genome. Both events are the product of long journeys, driven by curiosity and the desire for knowledge characteristic of our species, as well as the desire to participate in the construction of a better world. As can be seen, and as different as they may seem, Neil Armstrong’s time on the Moon, and the listing, one by one, of the more than 3 billion bases that make up the human genome, indeed have great similarities. One of them is the vision that we were able to achieve from the Moon of our house and the vision that we now have of the structure of the nucleus of our cells. We share the planet with all living beings, and we also share, in an extraordinarily exquisite way, the basic structures and instructions that define life.

Outward and inward

Thus begins “the post-genomic era”, and I sense that this is the signal I was looking for so much. The age of Aquarius has already begun as a consequence of looking outwards: the Moon specifically; and look inside: our genes. Like any universal transformation, it cannot be located on a specific calendar date. What’s more, the most important thing is missing from the genomic aspect: understanding the mechanisms of expression of that information, what is now called the Metabolome and later the Proteome, which will correspond to the compression of the synthesis, expression and regulation of the proteins into which the genome is translated. And if you pressure me a little and to give space to the greens, we also lack the Environmentsince no one doubts the fact that we are much more than a sequence of nucleotide bases.

Living in the post-genomic era also translates into the fact that, little by little, the genome of every living species on the planet will also be known. In fact, the number of dozens of microorganisms, that of a plant and that of an animal, is already known. But just as there was no clear beginning, we will not see an immediate impact on society either. And yet, this begins with the idea we have about ourselves, about our relationship with others and with all living species on the planet. From this view, our attitude cannot remain the same. Nor that of our industry. Much has been discussed about the immediate impact that all this will have on health, starting with the ability to act against the more than 3,000 diseases of genetic origin that affect humanity. Likewise, a new discipline has emerged as a result of the consequences of knowledge of the genome on public morality and ethics. Without failing to recognize the importance of these aspects of the new era, I believe that little has been discussed about the impact on the to do industrial.

From the laboratory to the everyday world

Almost imperceptibly, genomics crept into our lives. In the 1970s, genetic manipulation of microorganisms began, and with it the products derived from them became everyday items: medicines, foods and chemicals. By the eighties the biotechnology industry had already acquired another dimension. A hundred drugs have been developed through the genetic transformation of microorganisms, and the panorama opens up dramatically to the possibility, on the one hand, of manipulating their metabolic pathways, the so-called “metabolic engineering”, making the biological synthesis of practically any product possible. , and on the other hand, take advantage of the planet’s biodiversity in the search for genes with new enzymes and new properties of benefit to society. A simple example of this is the production of ethanol using a bacteria as Escherichia coli, with genes that nature put elsewhere, and using raw materials – straw and cane bagasse – that only a few years ago we were still using like the caveman: making fire.

In the 1990s, genetic engineering for industrial applications took a leap and moved to plants. After ten years, society continues to discuss the fate of what has been called the transgenic plants And food Frankenstein, as if genetics had not been key in man’s invention of agriculture and many of the animal species that today serve as food, transportation, and even entertainment and company, such as dogs. By simple logic and necessity, the genetic modification of plants will be another step for humanity in the post-genomic era. Not necessarily those that large agro-industrial companies have developed, but certainly those that allow the production of more and better food with less wear and tear on the planet: fewer agrochemicals, better control of pests and toxic products. But not only that. Plants will also be, via genetic manipulation, an alternative to synthesize complex molecules, which man imitated from nature itself, at a very high energy cost, and with waste that nature itself had to contend with. An example that already announces the new era is the production of biodegradable plastics such as polyhydroxybutyrate, synthesized in the leaves of plants. This will change not only the way we produce plastics, but our relationship with them, and their infinite permanence in the environment and our landscapes. It’s like having gone from cotton to synthetic fiber and back to cotton again.

Imitate perfectly

And the thing doesn’t stop there. At an experimental level there are already production farms, where the genetic manipulation of cows, goats and sheep has made it possible to express in their milk a whole range of proteins of very complex synthesis. Milk, being a fluid with a high protein content, allows the expression of more than 30 g/L of a certain protein, which instead of being destined for young offspring, can satisfy the needs of medications for patients with anemia, hemophilia, or diabetes. , etc. If at one time the human being imitated what the cow did in its stomach, to make gas from waste, now genetic engineering will turn its mammary glands into true reactors.

The use of microorganisms, wild or modified, and later that of plants, also opened a branch of industrial application that was called bioremediation. The term carries a statement that we water it. That we spoil water and also the soil, the air and the seas; both with waste from industrial activity and from oil spills and products that are transported from one place to another. Wow, even our own presence alters the environment. I think that to the extent that we move towards an ecological industry, defined as integrated into the environment and that obeys a series of basic principles of environmental balance, our relationship with the planet will become more harmonious. In this new industry, the reactors will not only be stainless steel tanks, but also plants, animals and, above all, fermenters. Industrial zones will be able to coexist with food production zones and even housing. The speed at which waste is deposited can never be greater than the capacity – natural and industrial – to degrade it. Energy sources, mainly from photosynthesis, will last as long as the Sun lasts, whose proven reserves, unlike oil, are infinite on the scale of our existence. In this new bioindustry, as I rather crudely propose, all human activities will be involved, so little by little we will have to abandon the term technologywhich will be replaced by biotechnology, the first being reserved for the most archaic industrial activities. The fundamental knowledge that will allow this transformation is that of the genome and its manipulation. Whether there are new eras will depend on the responsibility with which we assume this challenge. This is the dawn of the age of Aquarius.