New Organisms Have Been Formed Using the First Ever 6-letter Genetic Code
29th January 2017
Scientists have engineered the first ever ‘semi-synthetic’ organisms, by breeding E. coli bacteria with an expanded, six-letter genetic code.
While every living thing on Earth is formed according to a DNA code made up of four bases (represented by the letters G, T, C and A), these modified E. coli carry an entirely new type of DNA, with two additional DNA bases, X and Y, nestled in their genetic code.
The question is, how does that affect the activity of the cells? Do they express new proteins? If so, what do those proteins do?