Hachimoji DNA and RNA: A genetic system with eight building blocks
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: We report DNA- and RNA-like systems built from eight nucleotide "letters" (hence the name "hachimoji") that form four orthogonal pairs. These synthetic systems meet the structural requirements needed to support Darwinian evolution, including a polyelectrolyte backbone, predictable thermodynamic stability, and stereoregular building blocks that fit a Schrödinger aperiodic crystal. Measured thermodynamic parameters predict the stability of hachimoji duplexes, allowing hachimoji DNA to increase the information density of natural terran DNA. Three crystal structures show that the synthetic building blocks do not perturb the aperiodic crystal seen in the DNA double helix. Hachimoji DNA was then transcribed to give hachimoji RNA in the form of a functioning fluorescent hachimoji aptamer. These results expand the scope of molecular structures that might support life, including life throughout the cosmos.
Source: Science
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, John Templeton Foundation, Templeton World Charity Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Office of Science, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Basic Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Awards: G1229526393, G1286251239, G1804828992, G1831385526, G2371548206, G262532246, G303061748, G315621713, G3488436650, G3629260272, G3652832917, G4235786860, G4280418065, G4581610328, THE ALPHABET BIOGENESIS CONSORTIUM (ABC) WILL COMBINE SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY WITH IN VITRO AND IN VIVO EVOLUTION TECHNOLOGIES TO ADDRESS EACH ITEM IN THE, G495301720, G498139845, Reagents to Create Large DNA Constructs in One Assembly Step, G5570207115, G6541015203, G6550344761, G7283024673, G7667452692, Chaperone-Assisted RNA Crystallography, Transforming Life Sciences: Artificial Life, G8382000481, Chemistry to Life, A Synchrotron Radiation Structural Biology Resource, G8925327636, G903369309, G911061179, G969889393
OpenAlex ID: W2917003832