Hachimoji DNA and RNA: A Genetic System with Eight Building Blocks

Overview

Journal Science

Specialty Science

Date 2019 Feb 23

PMID 30792304

Citations 147

Authors

Shuichi Hoshika

Nicole A Leal

Myong-Jung Kim

Myong-Sang Kim

Nilesh B Karalkar

Hyo-Joong Kim

Alison M Bates

Norman E Watkins Jr

Holly A SantaLucia

Adam J Meyer

Saurja DasGupta

Joseph A Piccirilli

Andrew D Ellington

John SantaLucia Jr

Millie M Georgiadis

Steven A Benner

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

We report DNA- and RNA-like systems built from eight nucleotide "letters" (hence the name "hachimoji") that form four orthogonal pairs. These synthetic systems meet the structural requirements needed to support Darwinian evolution, including a polyelectrolyte backbone, predictable thermodynamic stability, and stereoregular building blocks that fit a Schrödinger aperiodic crystal. Measured thermodynamic parameters predict the stability of hachimoji duplexes, allowing hachimoji DNA to increase the information density of natural terran DNA. Three crystal structures show that the synthetic building blocks do not perturb the aperiodic crystal seen in the DNA double helix. Hachimoji DNA was then transcribed to give hachimoji RNA in the form of a functioning fluorescent hachimoji aptamer. These results expand the scope of molecular structures that might support life, including life throughout the cosmos.

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