Adding α,α-disubstituted and β-linked monomers to the genetic code of an organism
<p>The paper describes a new method called “tRNA display” to engineer orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases that can attach non-canonical monomers (ncMs) to tRNAs, independent of whether the ncMs can be polymerized by the ribosome. Current methods rely on the ncM being a ribosomal substrate, creating an evolutionary deadlock between engineering the synthetase and engineering the ribosome. tRNA display breaks this deadlock.</p>
<p>tRNA display involves fusing the synthetase gene to a split tRNA gene to create an stmRNA construct. The activity of the synthetase in acylating the tRNA can then be directly linked to the mRNA sequence encoding the synthetase. Active stmRNAs are selectively isolated and their sequences identified. This enables rapid discovery of synthetases for ncMs without requiring ribosomal translation.</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/@axialxyz/adding-%CE%B1-%CE%B1-disubstituted-and-%CE%B2-linked-monomers-to-the-genetic-code-of-an-organism-361b3a66ba5c"><strong>Learn More</strong></a></p>