Genomic Recoding Broadly Obstructs the Propagation of Horizontally Transferred Genetic Elements

Overview

Journal Cell Syst

Publisher Cell Press

Specialties Biology
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2016 Jul 19

PMID 27426981

Citations 25

Authors

Natalie Jing Ma

Farren J Isaacs

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Horizontally transferred genetic elements such as viruses and conjugative plasmids move DNA between organisms, increasing genetic diversity but destabilizing engineered biological systems. Here, we used a genomically recoded Escherichia coli strain lacking UAG stop codons and the recognition protein release factor 1 to study how an alternative genetic code influences horizontally transferred genetic element propagation. The alternative genetic code conferred resistance to multiple viruses (λ, M13, P1, MS2) at titers up to 10(11) PFU/ml and impaired conjugative plasmids (F and RK2) up to 10(5)-fold. By recoding UAG codons to UAA in viruses and plasmids, we restored viral infectivity and conjugative function. Propagating viruses on a mixed community of cells with standard and alternative genetic codes reduced viral titer, and over time viruses adapted to the alternative genetic code. This work demonstrates that altering the genetic code broadly obstructs the propagation of horizontally transferred genetic elements and supports the use of genomic recoding as a strategy to stabilize engineered biological systems.

Citing Articles

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