Cellular and Biophysical Applications of Genetic Code Expansion

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Synthetic Biology
• Protein Engineering

Background:

• Proteins are built from a limited set of amino acids, posing challenges for research and applications.
• Existing protein synthesis systems have inherent compositional constraints.
• Overcoming these constraints is crucial for advancing protein science and biotechnology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a comprehensive overview of genetic code expansion (GCE) technology.
• To review cellular and biophysical applications of GCE over the past two decades.
• To highlight advancements in protein engineering through GCE.

Main Methods:

• Review of scientific literature focusing on genetic code expansion (GCE) techniques.
• Analysis of diverse applications enabled by GCE across various organisms.
• Synthesis of findings from studies employing GCE for protein manipulation.

Main Results:

• GCE has successfully integrated numerous novel functionalities into proteins.
• Applications span protein imaging, probe introduction, interaction analysis, and functional control.
• GCE facilitates the exploration of proteome changes and synthesis of novel protein functions.

Conclusions:

• GCE technology has significantly advanced protein research and practical applications.
• The past two decades have seen substantial progress in GCE capabilities and scope.
• GCE offers a powerful platform for future innovations in protein science and biotechnology.