DNA alphabet

Scripps Research Institute study suggests expanding the genetic alphabet may be easier than previously thought

June 6, 2012

(Credit: iStockphoto)

A new study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institutesuggests that the replication process for DNA — the genetic instructions for living organisms that is composed of four bases (C, G, A and T) — is more open to unnatural letters than had previously been thought.

An expanded “DNA alphabet” could carry more information than natural DNA, potentially coding for a much wider range of molecules and enabling a variety of powerful applications, from precise molecular probes and nanomachines to useful new life forms.

The new study, which appears in the June 3, 2012 issue ofNature Chemical Biology, solves the mystery of how a previously identified pair of artificial DNA bases can go through the DNA replication process almost as efficiently as the four natural bases./.../