synthorx
Latest
Scientists create 'semi-synthetic' living cells with extra DNA letters
It turns out that your biology teacher (and a certain 1997 sci-fi flick) got something wrong -- DNA isn't necessarily limited to four letters. Scripps Research Institute scientists tell Wired that they've created living cells which include two artificial letters (that is, nucleotides) in their genetic code in addition to the naturally occurring A, C, G and T. The researchers' primary obstacle was making sure these nucleotides cooperated with the enzymes that copy and transcribe DNA; after that, it was just a matter of getting some E. coli bacteria to accept and propagate the newly augmented sequences.
