Synthetic Life with Alternative Nucleic Acids as Genetic Materials

Synthetic Life with Alternative Nucleic Acids as Genetic Materials

DNA, the fundamental genetic polymer of all living organisms on Earth, can be chemically modified to embrace novel functions that do not exist in nature. The key chemical and structural parameters for genetic information storage, heredity, and evolution have been elucidated, and many xenobiotic nucl...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Peng Nie, Yanfen Bai, Hui Mei
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-07-01
Series:Molecules
Subjects:
synthetic biology
xenobiotic nucleic acids (XNAs)
genetic material
synthetic life
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/25/15/3483
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spelling doaj-cc6cd63fbcef4f78aadb5aa824e5924f2020-11-25T02:58:15ZengMDPI AGMolecules1420-30492020-07-01253483348310.3390/molecules25153483Synthetic Life with Alternative Nucleic Acids as Genetic MaterialsPeng Nie0Yanfen Bai1Hui Mei2Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, ChinaShenzhen Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, ChinaShenzhen Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, ChinaDNA, the fundamental genetic polymer of all living organisms on Earth, can be chemically modified to embrace novel functions that do not exist in nature. The key chemical and structural parameters for genetic information storage, heredity, and evolution have been elucidated, and many xenobiotic nucleic acids (XNAs) with non-canonical structures are developed as alternative genetic materials in vitro. However, it is still particularly challenging to replace DNAs with XNAs in living cells. This review outlines some recent studies in which the storage and propagation of genetic information are achieved in vivo by expanding genetic systems with XNAs.https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/25/15/3483synthetic biologyxenobiotic nucleic acids (XNAs)genetic materialsynthetic life
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Peng Nie
Yanfen Bai
Hui Mei
spellingShingle Peng Nie
Yanfen Bai
Hui Mei
Synthetic Life with Alternative Nucleic Acids as Genetic Materials
Molecules
synthetic biology
xenobiotic nucleic acids (XNAs)
genetic material
synthetic life
author_facet Peng Nie
Yanfen Bai
Hui Mei
author_sort Peng Nie
title Synthetic Life with Alternative Nucleic Acids as Genetic Materials
title_short Synthetic Life with Alternative Nucleic Acids as Genetic Materials
title_full Synthetic Life with Alternative Nucleic Acids as Genetic Materials
title_fullStr Synthetic Life with Alternative Nucleic Acids as Genetic Materials
title_full_unstemmed Synthetic Life with Alternative Nucleic Acids as Genetic Materials
title_sort synthetic life with alternative nucleic acids as genetic materials
publisher MDPI AG
series Molecules
issn 1420-3049
publishDate 2020-07-01
description DNA, the fundamental genetic polymer of all living organisms on Earth, can be chemically modified to embrace novel functions that do not exist in nature. The key chemical and structural parameters for genetic information storage, heredity, and evolution have been elucidated, and many xenobiotic nucleic acids (XNAs) with non-canonical structures are developed as alternative genetic materials in vitro. However, it is still particularly challenging to replace DNAs with XNAs in living cells. This review outlines some recent studies in which the storage and propagation of genetic information are achieved in vivo by expanding genetic systems with XNAs.
topic synthetic biology
xenobiotic nucleic acids (XNAs)
genetic material
synthetic life
url https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/25/15/3483
work_keys_str_mv AT pengnie syntheticlifewithalternativenucleicacidsasgeneticmaterials
AT yanfenbai syntheticlifewithalternativenucleicacidsasgeneticmaterials
AT huimei syntheticlifewithalternativenucleicacidsasgeneticmaterials
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