Synthetic DNA

[tantalus]

Researchers have succeeded in mimicking the chemistry of life in synthetic versions of DNA and RNA molecules.

The work shows that DNA and its chemical cousin RNA are not unique in their ability to encode information and to pass it on through heredity.

The work, reported in Science, is promising for future "synthetic biology" and biotechnology efforts.

Dr Holliger and his colleagues have developed polymerases that efficiently transcribe the code of their synthetic DNA to natural DNA and then from that back to another synthetic DNA.

The process of evolution was encouraged in the lab; one of their DNA analogues was designed to cling to a particular protein or RNA target, those that failed to do so were washed away.

As successive copies of those that stuck were made, variations in the genetic code - and the resulting structure the molecules took on - led to ever more tightly attached XNAs.

"We've been able to show that both heredity - information storage and propagation - and evolution, which are really two hallmarks of life, can be reproduced and implemented in alternative polymers other than DNA and RNA," Dr Holliger explained

With that in hand, "construction of genetic systems based on alternative chemical platforms may ultimately lead to the synthesis of novel forms of life".

Full article and links - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17769529

 

[Aqueous Id]

Enjoyed that link, tantalus. I have sometimes wondered what would happen if you changed the sugar group, but this is the first I've heard of it being explored. I assume there is some kind of change of scale.

This has several interesting topics wrapped up in it: evolution, the way they altered the sugar groups and the geometry, all the unknowns and potentials of synthesizing DNA, the "interspecies" hosting of the synthetic onto the natural DNA, and all the applications, from biotech to medicine. Awesome.