Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 17, 2025

Isolation of Fidelity Variants of RNA Viruses and Characterization of Virus Mutation Frequency
Published on: June 16, 2011
Genetic Code-Locking Confers Stable Virus Resistance to a Recoded Organism
Jérôme F Zürcher1, Alexandre Dickson1, Tomás Kappes2
1Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, England, U.K.
None:
The genetic code defines the correspondence between codons in genes and amino acids in proteins. Reassignment of sense codons to different amino acids can create cells with refactored genetic codes that are distinct from the canonical genetic code. By encoding essential genes according to the refactored genetic code, this code becomes locked-in, making it essential to the host cell. Here, we show that refactoring the structure of the genetic code alone is sufficient to confer temporary resistance to complex mobile genetic elements, such as viruses. However, when the refactored genetic code is not locked-in, it can revert, leading to loss of resistance. Thus, locking the refactored genetic code may be crucial for maintaining stable, long-term resistance in the face of sporadic and unpredictable viral infection.
Related Concept Videos
Viral Mutations
Viruses with RNA Genomes
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...
Conservative Site-specific Recombination and Phase Variation
The recognition sites for Cre recombinase called LoxP...
Retroviruses
Viral Replication: Lysogenic Cycle

