Researchers Run 2 Genetic Codes at Once, Avoiding Genome-Wide Rewrites
Updated
Updated · Ars Technica · Aug 26
Researchers Run 2 Genetic Codes at Once, Avoiding Genome-Wide Rewrites
2 articles · Updated · Ars Technica · Aug 26
Summary
Two separate genetic codes were run simultaneously in a new synthetic-biology approach designed to avoid reworking every protein-dependent instruction in a cell.
The method sidesteps a major bottleneck in genetic-code engineering, where changing codon meanings can force researchers to compensate across an entire bacterial genome.
Earlier efforts had added new amino acids to bacteria or produced proteins missing 1 amino acid, but those advances were labor-intensive and often required gene-by-gene redesign.
The system has not yet been tested in living cells and could still create cellular problems, but it offers a potentially faster route to expanding how organisms build proteins.