Expanding the genetic code of Caenorhabditis elegans using bacterial aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase/tRNA pairs.

ABSTRACT: The genetic code specifies 20 common amino acids and is largely preserved in both single and multicellular organisms. Unnatural amino acids (Uaas) have been genetically incorporated into proteins by using engineered orthogonal tRNA/aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (RS) pairs, enabling new research capabilities and precision inaccessible with common amino acids. We show here that Escherichia coli tyrosyl and leucyl amber suppressor tRNA/RS pairs can be evolved to incorporate different Uaas in response to the amber stop codon UAG into various proteins in Caenorhabditis elegans. To accurately report Uaa incorporation in worms, we found that it is crucial to integrate the UAG-containing reporter gene into the genome rather than to express it on an extrachromosomal array from which variable expression

SUBMITTER: Parrish AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3401359 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature