WASHINGTON, Oct 6: Celebrity US scientist Craig Venter has built a synthetic chromosome using chemicals made in a laboratory, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.

A Venter spokeswoman, however, declined to confirm any breakthrough.

“We have not achieved what some have speculated we have in synthetic life,” she said. “When we do so there will be a scientific publication and we are likely months away from that.”

Venter, however, told The Guardian that he is to announce the discovery within weeks and could possibly unveil it as early as Sunday

The breakthrough, which Venter hopes could help develop new energy sources to combat global warming, would be “a very important philosophical step in the history of our species,” he told the newspaper.

“We are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it. That gives us the hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated before,” he added.—AFP