Scientists build life form that adds letters to genetic code

seattletimes.com ^ | Wednesday, May 7, 2014 at 6:03 PM

[BenLurkin]

In a paper published in the journal Nature, bioengineers at The Scripps Research Institute in the San Diego neighborhood of La Jolla said they had successfully inserted two synthetic molecules into the genome of an Escherichia coli bacterium, which survived and passed on the new genetic material.

In addition to the naturally occurring nucleotides adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine, which form the rungs of DNA’s double-helix structure, the bacterium carried two more base-pair partners, which study authors have dubbed d5SICS and dNaM.

For more than a decade, scientists have been experimenting with so-called unnatural base pairs, or UBPs, saying they may hold the key to new antibiotics, future cancer drugs, improved vaccines, nanomaterials and other innovations.

Until now, however, those experiments have all been conducted in test tubes.

“These unnatural base pairs have worked beautifully in vitro, but the big challenge has been to get them working in the much more complex environment of a living cell,” lead study author Denis Malyshev, a molecular and chemical biologist at Scripps, said in a prepared statement.

[Mastador1]

First question, does it look anything like Vanna White?

[GeronL]

I saw that movie, the creation was cute at first until it eats people and multiplies

[BenLurkin]

I certainly hope so!

[BenLurkin]

Indeed. What could go wrong?

[Redcitizen]

In before the O-v-a-l-t-i-n-e joke.

[Free Vulcan]

More tech that scares the living crap out of me.

[machman]

[a fool in paradise]

How long until they patent their unique additions?

[TangoLimaSierra]

[wonkowasright]

[SunkenCiv]

You will be assimilated. Thanks BenLurkin.

[blam]

I’ve read that you should use Oxiclean to remove blood stains...Luminol can’t ‘see’ it after Oxiclean is used on it...I’ve read.

[BenLurkin]

Yup.

[BenLurkin]

http://www.johnspeedie.com/healy/Pushing.wav

[SunkenCiv]

;’)