"A common and useful analogy is often made with building materials. Transgenic organisms are like houses built with stone; the material was found elsewhere "in nature"
and remixed to make a house. Synthetic organisms are like houses built with plastic (or LEGO bricks); the building material did not come already formed from the "natural"
environment like stone did, but was produced elsewhere and inserted into it. I include scare quotes around "nature" and "natural" because, of course, those terms are fraught and loaded"