Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 24, 2025

Mapping Bacterial Functional Networks and Pathways in Escherichia Coli using Synthetic Genetic Arrays
Published on: November 12, 2012
Refactored genetic codes enable bidirectional genetic isolation
Jérôme F Zürcher1, Wesley E Robertson1, Tomás Kappes2
1Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK.
None:
The near-universal genetic code defines the correspondence between codons in genes and amino acids in proteins. We refactored the structure of the genetic code in Escherichia coli and created orthogonal genetic codes that restrict the escape of synthetic genetic information into natural life. We developed orthogonal and mutually orthogonal horizontal gene transfer systems, which permit the transfer of genetic information between organisms that use the same genetic code but restrict the transfer of genetic information between organisms that use different genetic codes. Moreover, we showed that locking refactored codes into synthetic organisms completely blocks invasion by mobile genetic elements, including viruses, which carry their own translation factors and successfully invade organisms with canonical and compressed genetic codes.
More Related Videos
10:08Genetic Mapping of Thermotolerance Differences Between Species of Saccharomyces Yeast via Genome-Wide Reciprocal Hemizygosity Analysis
Published on: August 12, 2019
08:25Genetic Modification of Cyanobacteria by Conjugation Using the CyanoGate Modular Cloning Toolkit
Published on: October 31, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Gene Conversion
Conservative Site-specific Recombination and Phase Variation
The recognition sites for Cre recombinase called LoxP...
The Central Dogma
RNA is the Missing Link Between DNA and Proteins
In the early 1900s, scientists discovered that DNA stores all the information needed for cellular functions and that proteins perform most of these functions. However, the mechanisms of converting genetic information into functional proteins remained unknown for many years. Initially, it was believed that a single gene is...
Restriction Enzymes
The host bacteria protect their own genomic DNA from these enzymes by methylating these sites. Some...
Exon Recombination
Exon shuffling follows “splice frame rules.” Each exon...
Types of Genetic Transfer Between Organisms