Hachimoji
DNA and RNA: A genetic system with eight building
blocks.
by
S. Hoshika et al Science 22 Feb 2019 - Vol.
363, Issue 6429, pp. 884-887
DOI: 10.1126/science.aat0971
These researchers, led by Steve Benner of
the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution and
Firebird Biomolecular Sciences, has produced four synthetic nucleotides to make
an 8 letter genetic code that can generate “hachimoji
(hachi – 8 and moji - letters) DNA".
Benner's group produced four additional hydrogen-bonded base
(Z, P, S, and B) that formed base pairs with
native DNA structures.
The observed melting
temperatures of the helical DNA were on average within
2.1 oC, a standard
of
error margin similar to native DNA oligonucleotides.
High-resolution crystal structures of three different
Hachimoji DNA oligonucleotides confirmed the structural similarity to native DNA. Coupled with
an engineered T7 RNA polymerase, this engineered DNA
alphabet was transcribed into RNA.
The DNA increases the information density of natural
DNA, and also maintains the
double helix structure.
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