Is it possible to develop a biosecurity system capable of detecting bioweapons in the making by screening the genetic sequences routinely ordered from commercial suppliers of synthetic DNA? No, says a National Research Council (NRC) committee commissioned by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in a report: Sequence-Based Classification of Select Agents: A Brighter Line (downloadable free).

The publication by Craig Venter and colleagues of  the manufacture and insertion of a synthetic bacterial genome into a closely related bacterial cell, which was then able to self-replicate, lifted the profile of synthetic biology, including its potential for misuse. Prompted by advances such as this, the committee did, however, identify a key change that would be possible with current technology: moving to a sequence-based classification system for the regulation of dangerous pathogens.

The United States regulates a list of 82 pathogens and toxins called “select agents” that are deemed to pose a biosecurity threat, so they are subject to restricted access. But currently, nothing identifies them beyond taxonomic labels, such as Bacillus anthracis for anthrax.

The report also describes a “yellow flag” biosafety system that would address sequences of concern — snippets of DNA that are not in themselves select agents, but could be part of one or otherwise used to produce a bioweapon.