title: Genomically recoded organisms expand biological functions.
abstract: We describe the construction and characterization of a genomically recoded organism (GRO). We replaced all known UAG stop codons in Escherichia coli MG1655 with synonymous UAA codons, which permitted the deletion of release factor 1 and reassignment of UAG translation function. This GRO exhibited improved properties for incorporation of nonstandard amino acids that expand the chemical diversity of proteins in vivo. The GRO also exhibited increased resistance to T7 bacteriophage, demonstrating that new genetic codes could enable increased viral resistance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Marc J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Lajoie
authors.forename: Alexis J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Rovner
authors.forename: Daniel B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.forename: Hans-Rudolf
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Aerni
authors.forename: Adrian D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Haimovich
authors.forename: Gleb
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kuznetsov
authors.forename: Jaron A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Mercer
authors.forename: Harris H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.forename: Joshua A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Mosberg
authors.forename: Nadin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rohland
authors.forename: Peter G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Schultz
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Jacobson
authors.forename: Jesse
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rinehart
authors.forename: George M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Church
authors.forename: Farren J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Isaacs
mesh_terms: D019943:Amino Acid Substitution / Q000235:genetics; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000235:genetics*; D017123:Bacteriophage T7 / Q000502:physiology*; D018388:Codon, Terminator / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D030781:Organisms, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology*; D010443:Peptide Chain Termination, Translational / Q000235:genetics; D010454:Peptide Termination Factors / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D018388:Codon, Terminator; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D010454:Peptide Termination Factors