How many genes does it take to create life?

How many genes does it take to create life? Mycoplasma genitalium bacteria has 485 genes, and this is the fewest for any free-living organism. But 103 of its genes can be individually removed without killing it, so 382 genes seem to be essential for life.

At the J. Craig Venter Institute, scientists are assembling those 382 genes from scratch to synthesize new organisms. Their hope is to insert additional genes along the way, to generate useful bi-products.  Synthetic bacteria with added genes could become "trillion dollar organisms". For example, large vats of "enhanced" bacterium could produce bio-fuels (or any other organic product), and launch entirely new industries.