Orthogonal Genetic Systems

John Chaput (1) , Piet Herdewijn (2) , Marcel Hollenstein (3)

1 UC Irvine - University of California [Irvine]
2 Rega Institute for Medical Research [Leuven, België]
3 Chimie bioorganique des acides nucléiques - Bioorganic chemistry of nucleic acids

Xenobiology is an emerging area of synthetic biology that aims to safeguard genetically engineered cells by storing synthetic biology information in xeno-nucleic acid polymers (XNAs). Critical to the success of this effort is the need to establish cellular systems that can maintain an XNA chromosome in actively dividing cells. This viewpoint discusses the structural parameters of the nucleic acid backbone that should be considered when designing an orthogonal genetic system that can replicate without interference from the endogenous genome. In addition to practical value, these studies have the potential to provide new fundamental insight into the structure and function properties of unnatural nucleic acid polymers.

Domains: Chemical Sciences; Organic chemistry

John Chaput, Piet Herdewijn, Marcel Hollenstein. Orthogonal Genetic Systems. ChemBioChem, 2020, 21 (10), pp.1408-1411. ⟨10.1002/cbic.201900725⟩. ⟨pasteur-02625660⟩