SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) claim to have created the first stable semisynthetic organism with extra bases added to its genetic code. The single-celled organism is also able to continually replicate the synthetic base pair as it divides, which could mean that future synthetic organisms may be able to carry extra genetic information in their DNA sequences indefinitely.
The cells of all organisms contain genetic information in their DNA as a two-base-pair sequence made up of four molecules – A, T, C, G (Adenine, Cytosine, Thymine, and Guanine). Each of these is known as a nucleotide (consisting of a a nitrogenous base, a phosphate molecule, and a sugar molecule) and are specifically and exclusively paired, so that only A is coupled to T and C is coupled with G. These nucleotides are connected in a chain by the covalent (electron-coupled) bonds between the sugar of one nucleotide and the phosphate of the next, which creates an alternating sugar-phosphate "backbone."
The team from TSRI have added two synthetic bases that they call "X" and "Y" into the genetic code of a E.coli carrier organism – a single-cell bacteria – and then chemically tweaked it to live, replicate, and survive with the extra DNA molecules intact.
The paper is available via PNAS:
Yorke Zhang, et al.,A semisynthetic organism engineered for the stable expansion of the genetic alphabet (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1616443114)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Thursday January 26 2017, @06:09PM
That hasn't worked out very well for starlink corn, Scotts bentgras, or roundup ready canola.
A more interesting uise for synthetic base pairs would be creating organisms that cannot synthesize a critical base pair that also isn't found in nature. That way it would depend on a specialized growth medium.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 30 2017, @05:58AM
> That hasn't worked out very well for starlink corn, Scotts bentgras, or roundup ready canola.
Uh...but their dna is found all over in fields with other strains near where they've been grown?
> A more interesting uise for synthetic base pairs would be creating organisms that cannot synthesize a critical base pair that also isn't found in nature. That way it would depend on a specialized growth medium.
100% best idea in this post. Patent the idea and release it as free.