Expanding Cell's Chemical Repertoire through Translation Machine Retooling
Originally Published 2 years ago — by Phys.org
A multi-university group of chemists is working to retool the cell's polypeptide manufacturing plants to generate polymer chains that are more elaborate than what can now be made in a cell or a test tube. The ultimate goal is to make the translation system fully programmable, so that introducing mRNA instructions into the cell along with new building blocks will allow the ribosome to produce an unlimited variety of new molecular chains. These chains could form the basis for new bio-materials, new enzymes, even new drugs.