“The almost universal genetic code uses 64 codons to encode 20 amino acids and protein synthesis. In this study, we design and We generate Escherichia coli with a synthetic genome, in which we replace seven codons. The resulting agency, SYN57, uses 55 codons to encode the 20 canonical amino acids ”, thus begins a study published in Science that describes a new artificial way of life that would be more efficient than that created by evolution.
What does this mean? Let’s go on the part. During The last billions of approximately, all known life on Earth has used 64 codons. A codon, in a nutshell, is a three -letter sequence found in DNA and RNA and provides instructions for amino acids, a fundamental component of life.
In 1966, scientists deciphered the code detailing what codons correspond to what amino acids, revealing only 20 amino acids in total. Interestingly, they realized that evolution had not resulted in perfect efficiency, since some codons were clearly redundant. This raised a tempting possibility: would there be room to cut part of the redundancy, designing a more efficient organism from scratch?
In 2010, a team of 24 scientists detailed the steps in a row to create the world’s first synthetic bacterial cell. Then, in 2019, genetics experts managed to eliminate that natural redundancy and rework an E. coli chain up to 61 codons, demonstrating that life can work with less than 64 codons of proven efficacy. The feat was announced at the time as the “most ambitious attempt of a completely synthetic way of life” to date.
Although it is an advance that took decades to complete, the artificial cell remains only a faithful recreation of the old 64 codons version. This is how we arrived at the team led by Wesley E. Robertson, from the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the University of Cambridge, who asignature having designed a bacterium whose genetic code is more efficient than that of any other way of life on earth.
And now they have gone even further. To create Syn57, Robertson’s team embarked on the thorough process of altering more than 101,000 genetic code linesfirst in theory, then in practice.
Unlike the synthetic bacteria of 2010, Advances in DNA synthesis allow genetic researchers Build genomes from scratch, avoiding some redundant codons from the beginning.
“We can begin to explore what life tolerates -says in an interview Akos Nyerges, Harvard’s synthetic biologist, who did not participate in the study, but was part of the 2010 teams -finally We can test these alternative genetic codes. Without a doubt, we went through moments when we asked ourselves: ‘Will it be a dead end or can we reach the end? ”
The result of your arduous experimentation? “Life still works,” concludes the study.