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Expansion of the genetic code in yeast: making life more complex
Author(s) -
Davis Brian K.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.10415
Subject(s) - genetic code , saccharomyces cerevisiae , amino acid , yeast , escherichia coli , biology , mutant , tyrosine , gene , biochemistry , nucleotide , computational biology , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology
Proteins account for the catalytic and structural versatility displayed by all cells, yet they are assembled from a set of only 20 common amino acids. With few exceptions, only 61 nucleotide triplets also direct incorporation of these amino acids. Endeavors to expand the genetic code recently progressed to nucleus‐containing cells, after Chin et al.1 transferred Escherichia coli genes for a mutant tyrosine‐adaptor molecule and its synthetase into Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Transformed yeast cells were produced that exhibit efficient site‐specific incorporation of non‐biotic amino acids into proteins. This makes it likely that code complexity can be elevated experimentally in mammals. BioEssays 26:111–115, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.