Columbia and Harvard team engineers ribosome portion without isoleucine

6 articles · Updated · Ars Technica · Apr 30

The researchers targeted one of 20 standard amino acids, showing part of the protein-making machinery could work without an otherwise essential component.
They chose isoleucine because it closely resembles leucine and valine, suggesting one of the three hydrophobic amino acids might be removed with limited disruption.
The work aims to test ideas that early life used reduced genetic codes, while newer AI-based protein design tools make such redesigns more feasible.

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