A team of biochemists at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge has developed a new method to incorporate structurally unusual amino acids into proteins by using bacteria. The method is described in the journal Nature.
Prior research has shown that DNA codes for just 20 amino acids, the building blocks for making all the proteins used by living creatures. These are known as alpha amino acids. Prior research has also suggested that beneficial compounds could be created with a method to create proteins using beta amino acids. Researchers have suggested that applications could include the development of new kinds of medicines and possibly novel catalysts for manufacturing processes.
Such proteins have been engineered via syntheses in the lab. but scientists would prefer a more natural approach, which would be both cheaper and more efficient. This means that a technique is required to get a living cell to generate a desired protein using a beta amino acid.
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