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Hailed as the biggest, most controversial genetics breakthrough since the cloning of Dolly the sheep, Dr. Craig Venter - the scientist who led the private-sector race to map the human genome - says his research team has figured out which genes provide the bare essentials for life. Now he wants the commercial rights to their use.

Venter plans to cobble together synthetic versions of these genes to create the world's first artificial living being, a bacterium called mycoplasma laboratorium that could then be programmed to convert sunlight into eco-friendly fuels such as hydrogen or ethanol.

The plan represents a quantum leap in genetics, from reading the DNA of living organisms, to writing it from scratch.

"This is a biological bombshell," warns Pat Mooney of the Ottawa-based Erosion, Technology and Concentration Group, a biotechnology watchdog that discovered the patent application this week.

Once you've created an artificial bacterium, "it becomes a small step to do the same for a plant, an animal and eventually even a human being," said Jim Thomas, also with the ETC Group.

"Society hasn't even discussed what...