A team of researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in California (USA) has succeeded in incorporating new letters into the genetic alphabet after developing a bacterium whose DNA includes two artificial bases that do not exist naturally, thus creating the first semi-synthetic living organism .
The study, published in the journal Nature , explains that they have achieved that the organism used for the tests, the bacterium "Escherichia coli", replicated its cells with relative normality after genetic modification . To achieve DNA replication, the researchers had to provide the base pair (d5SICS and dNaM) to the bacteria, artificially, as well as the molecules that carry them. Fortunately, the genetic material in the cells of the new semi-synthetic organism replicated the cells with some speed and precision, without impeding their growth or showing signs of losing their unnatural base pairs .
Scientists hope to continue creating artificial molecules that allow the development of unnatural amino acids (components of proteins) that allow the creation of proteins for therapeutic or diagnostic functions .
The idea of improving the double helix structure of DNA is not new; Not surprisingly, the Scripps Institute research team has been working on it since the 90s , finally achieving this milestone in synthetic biology with the creation of the first semi-synthetic organism capable of harboring an artificial base pair in its DNA.
