This is cool. Experiments with abiogenesis have hinted that it is a bit of a crap shoot that we ended up with the nucleic acids that we did. As a matter of fact, one of the nucleotides originally selected was sufficiently poor a choice for long term storage that it was replaced: RNA (the production nucleic acid, and probably the original one - ie RAM) has Uracil whereas DNA (the storage - ie Hard Drive) has Thymine.

In RNA replication there are some other nucleotides that can be present in a replicating anti-codon in a natural setting. They can pair with several other nucleotides, I believe.

Even with a panspermia hypothesis, life on another planet could have different nucleotides incorporated. We may be getting a glimpse of how this could work.

Jan

If properly controlled, the idea of encoding DNA to have a third set of base pairs allows for the production of synthetic proteins and a wide variety of genetic manipulation. This could be used to dramatically enhance food production, produce medicines that bacteria would have never seen before, etc. This could be a brilliant idea, but if not controlled, it could be a disastrous idea. I read through the abstract. So far it looks credible.

I want wings.

Truly amazing. It's one of the reasons I'd like to live for a few hundred years. Just to see the scientific breakthroughs come to fruition. That is, if humanity can hold it together that long.

Years ago, maybe half a lifetime, I set out to read an entire encyclopedia. It was not all that noble an idea, we had started buying a volume each time we went to the grocery. I recalled my parents had done the same for me. I also recalled I had seldom if ever used those books, so this time at least one person in the family will read them, me!

The human brain is an amazing piece of nature's mystery. Lots of people from Napolean Hill to Zig Ziglar have tried to describe how it works and how to harness this power for ourselves. In my new encyclopedia, I had read about viruses and how they commandeer a cell, change it's reproductive capabilities to make it duplicate the virus, then set cell replication in progress. In a short time every cell in our body will be infected by this virus, be it cold, flu, etc, by a chain reaction of viral infection.

I had also read of many genetic diseases that are believed to be caused by a missing gene. Then one night, in my dreams, I visioned scientist injecting these missing genes into a common rhino virus (cold), then purposely infecting people, and letting the natural action of the virus infecting every cell in the body place that missing DNA in every deficient cell. It seemed like science fiction to me. Possible, but beyond anything we had ever heard of.

Fast forward about 20 years and guess what, research scientists were doing exactly that. I am certain it required a lot of knowledge and understanding that I didn't have nor did I want to study to acquire. Still, anything the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Looking over the history of mankind there is no goal we have not reached or are in the process of reaching at this present time. So why should this be any different?

This is good stuff. Amazing how geniuses think! Perhaps they will invent a bacteria that digests nuclear waste?

I don't know much about DNA or genome research,
but it sound like they stil use th same peptides AGCT, but natural base combination pairs are A-T and G-C and now they have a third. Maybe Dr. Brenner can speak to this?