Enzymes stitch together non-natural DNA
Guided evolution and HIV help create man-made stuff of life.
24 February 2004
PHILIP BALL

Researchers have found new ways to string together artificial DNA bases. The
techniques could aid the creation of altered genetic material for
applications in medicine and technology.

Floyd Romesberg and co-workers at the Scripps Research Institute in La
Jolla, California, have harnessed the principles of evolution to find an
enzyme capable of assembling non-standard DNA.

In a second study, Steven Benner of the University of Florida in Gainesville
and colleagues used an enzyme made by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, to do
the same job. Benner's enzyme is even capable of making multiple copies of
non-natural DNA, opening up the possibility that the code could eventually
evolve on its own.

All natural DNA is made up of just four bases, but researchers have created
non-natural bases. These can be used to make forms of DNA that are more
robust than the natural kind and do not break apart when exposed to high
temperatures. Such super-DNA could be useful in a wide range of medical and
technological applications.

Read the rest at Nature
http://www.nature.com/nsu/040223/040223-2.html

Comment:
Kids of the distant future will not mess with Meccano or Lego, they won't
waste time with computer games of our era: they'll create their own custom
pets from a raw base splicer - six legged fluffy dogs with pink wings are
just around the corner :)

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek.
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