E. coli cells that use synthetic base 5-chlorouracile in place of thymineIG-CEA
Using a new automated system for placing strong selective pressure on cultured bacteria, a team of European scientists has evolved a new strain of E. coli that almost completely lacks thymine—one of the four bases of the DNA alphabet. Instead, the bacteria contain the structurally similar synthetic base, 5-chlorouracil.
The results, published in a recent issue of Angewandte Chemie International Edition, suggest a new way for incorporating unnatural elements into living organisms—a technical challenge in synthetic biology that has yet to see industrial applications.
“They have shown that they have a good control of the evolution process,” said molecular geneticist George Church of Harvard University, who was not involved in the research. “Darwin would be very proud!”
Organisms evolve as a result of randomly-occurring mutations ...
