Through generative artificial design scientists have created a synthetic E.coli. cell with only 19 Amino acids. All the isoleucine residues from the model were removed from ribosomal protein.
This discovery is crucial in sense that there are possibilities where simpler codons can be formed. Since, Isoleucine residues are comparable hence substitutive by valine residues.
What is significance of this 19 amino acid E.coli. model?
- Scientists have always wondered how is this possible that all the 20 essential amino acids were present at the beginning of life. Because everything in life has developed over time during evolution. And availability of all alphabets of amino acids from very beginning was unlikely.
- It also helps us to think beyond the concepts we always sought normal and essential.
- Using computational biology we can also decipher what can we loose or gain in our cellular structure during the course of evolution.
SOURCE: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeb5171
According to you what are other possible way this model can be helpful to our understanding of genetic coding ?
MBH/AB