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Chemical Evolution of a Bacterium’s Genome
Author(s) -
Marlière Philippe,
Patrouix Julien,
Döring Volker,
Herdewijn Piet,
Tricot Sabine,
Cruveiller Stéphane,
Bouzon Madeleine,
Mutzel Rupert
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201100535
Subject(s) - cytosine , thymine , escherichia coli , guanine , genome , dna , genetics , bacteria , nucleotide , strain (injury) , gene , biology , chemistry , computational biology , biochemistry , anatomy
Automated selection was used to evolve an Escherichia coli strain unable to synthesize thymine nucleotides into a chemically modified organism whose DNA genome is composed of adenine, cytosine, guanine, and an artificial base, the thymine analogue 5‐chlorouracil. Evolving cells were initially observed as irregular filaments and progressively recovered the appearance of short rods typical of wild‐type E. coli (see picture).