Four artificial new letters for the DNA alphabet


	Four artificial new letters for the DNA alphabet

Mohir

7-14-2008 4:07 PM

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tags:

dna, electronics

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/5a1866f0-ebbe-4cbd-ac85-1b42b2a13e63/C319BD52-2A38-4B88-B5EA-2BA62105B8FC/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg19926644.300-four-artificial-new-letters-for-the-dna-alphabet.html?feedId=online-news_rss20" href="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg19926644.300-four-artificial-new-letters-for-the-dna-alphabet.html?feedId=online-news_rss20" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg19926644.300-four-artificial-new-letters-for-the-dna-alphabet.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><P>A NEW type of artificial DNA may form the basis of minuscule electronic devices.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg19926644.300-four-artificial-new-letters-for-the-dna-alphabet.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><P>Natural DNA is constructed using four bases, which form the "letters" of the genetic code. Now Masahiko Inouye and his colleagues at the University of Toyama in Japan have used DNA synthesis equipment to stitch together four new artificial bases inside the sugar-based backbone of a DNA molecule (<I>Journal of the American Chemical Society</I>, <A target="nsarticle" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja801058h">DOI: 10.1021/ja801058h</A>).</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg19926644.300-four-artificial-new-letters-for-the-dna-alphabet.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><P>The artificial DNA is more stable than natural DNA, which may make it a good candidate for turning into molecular electronic wires, able to conduct electrons along their length.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg19926644.300-four-artificial-new-letters-for-the-dna-alphabet.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><P>So far the team has made only short strands of artificial DNA, around 100 bases long. But Inouye plans to experiment with naturally occurring enzymes, both to make longer strands of the molecule, and to make it copy itself, just like regular DNA.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg19926644.300-four-artificial-new-letters-for-the-dna-alphabet.html?feedId=online-news_rss20">Combining natural and unnatural bases could produce a whole range of interesting molecules</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/C319BD52-2A38-4B88-B5EA-2BA62105B8FC/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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