AI-guided redesign of protein alphabet in bacteria could unlock new ways to build synthetic organisms.

Life’s first alphabet was likely small — but surprisingly powerful. Amino acid diversity in peptides and proteins over time. Over time, the genetic code expanded into the 20-amino acid alphabet found ...

Deep learning models used to understand how isoleucine could be replaced in proteins without disrupting their structures ...

An engineered E. coli strain survived after one amino acid was designed out of many of its ribosomal proteins—an early test ...

Although the myriad proteins found in all life are largely built from a set of 20 amino acids, many other amino acids exist in nature, and it remains a curiosity as to why some were ultimately ...

One of life's many mysteries is how it ended up choosing only a set of 20 amino acids to build proteins for its wide catalog of organisms, from single-celled bacteria to behemoth whales. From a ...