From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Wed Jul 25 2001 - 01:05:14 MDT
Anders wrote:
> The rub is of course that to do this we need to modify
> the tRNA and ribosomes as well as recompile the genome,
> which is rather tricky.
Actually, you need to modify the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase
enzymes that ligate the amino acids to the tRNA. The
ribosoome might or might not require some modification
to be more/less accepting of what it views as "improper"
tRNA-amino-acid inputs.
Bottom line (IMO) -- given sufficently robust software
for the design of tRNA's & aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases --
you can change the genetic code hither, thither and yon.
The blueprint for life aint cast in bronze me boys,
its a song riding on the wind -- written in both
the flexible yet fickle tones ye find in the tune
a woman sings to 'er mate. Rewriting the song
is clearly problematic but retuning the piano
while it is being played may go unnoticed.
R.
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