Hidden within the genetic code lies the "triplet code," a series of three nucleotides that determine a single amino acid. How did scientists discover and unlock this amino acid code? Once the budding ...

Synthetic bacteria with expanded genetic codes can evolve proteins in the laboratory with enhanced properties using mechanisms that might not be possible with nature's 20 amino acid building blocks.

Evolution settled on a genetic code that uses four letters to name 20 amino acids. Synthetic biologists adding new bases to DNA will be free to improve on nature — if they can. With recent innovations ...

The dictionary of life has a new update. A DNA sequence that signals cells in almost all other organisms to stop synthesising proteins instead encodes a rare amino acid in some archaea, according to a ...

Synthetic biology has become a catch-all term for attempts to engineer organisms to do things they normally wouldn't. Efforts so far have ranged from assembling logic circuits inside bacteria to ...