For years it has been believed that only the 4 know DNA nucleotides can be replicated. Floyd Romesburg, a biologist at the Scripps Research Institute, has narrowed down a list of 3,600 "alien" DNA bases to 60 candidates. Then he selected a pair called d5SICS and dNaM. He succeeded to get the foreign to copy and get transformed into RNA. He did this by inject a loop of this unnatural DNA into a strand of the bacteria E. coli. The bacteria passed the strange DNA off to its offspring for many generations until it ran out of foreign nucleotides to use. Romesburg team is now trying a way to have the cells produce these new nucleotide themselves.
NOS Themes
- Role of skepticism - It has been believed that only the 4 know nucleotides can be replicated
- Importance of repeatability- The foreign DNA was replicated for many generations.
I think it is very groundbreaking to discover that extra nucleotides can be used in DNA. Organisms with more than four nucleotides in their DNA strand would have a much larger combination of bases and a more complex genetic code. I wonder how extra nucleotides in DNA and RNA would affect both humans and other animals. I think that it could possibly make species more diverse and increase the likelihood of survival.
ReplyDeleteWow this is an absolutely huge discovery. I wonder if these new bases can be added to our DNA. I wonder if this will ever result in crazy mutations or enhanced abilities. I did some further research, and scientists were hopeful to introduce unused potential in the bases. I am interested to see what scientists do with this.
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