Use DNA to Create Living Tombstones

In a mystical use of genetic modification, a U.K. art group based in Japan has found a way to ensure that a person's DNA lives on long after their demise. Biopresence, founded by Georg Tremmel and Shiho Fukuhara, intends to infuse the DNA of recently deceased loved ones into trees, turning the plants into living memorials.

Basically, it can also be seen as a complex pattern of silent mutations," said Tremmel.

The trees will have no visual or significant genetic changes because all the human genes will be stored inside the tree, using Joe Davis' DNA Manifold method, which only affects the genotype of an organism.

You can read the full story on Wired News' web site.

My thanks to Debbie Mieszala for telling me about this article.

Comments

[lvrande]

I find this idea of "turning the plants into living memorials" very strange. Trees are already alive and don't need my loved one's DNA to make them memorials. In fact, years ago, I gave a donation to a national forest for them to plant a tree in honor of my parents. That makes more sense to me. I've seen memorial gardens, too.