AI Helps Create Bacterial Strain with Reduced Amino Acid Set
Researchers used artificial intelligence to redesign a bacterium's ribosomes to function with only 19 amino acids instead of the standard 20. The study, published in Science on April 30, focused on Escherichia coli and targeted isoleucine for removal, replacing it with valine or leucine. Initial attempts resulted in only 43% functionality, but AI models including AlphaFold2 optimized the protein designs. The resulting strain, Ec19, maintained genetic changes for over 450 generations. The work suggests early life may have used fewer building blocks and advances synthetic biology.
Key facts
- Study published in Science on April 30.
- Researchers used AI including AlphaFold2 to redesign ribosomes.
- Targeted amino acid isoleucine replaced with valine or leucine.
- Initial attempts yielded 43% functionality.
- Final strain Ec19 combined 21 redesigned ribosomal proteins.
- Ec19 maintained changes for over 450 generations.
- Work suggests early life may have used fewer amino acids.
- Study led by Harris Wang of Columbia University.
Entities
Institutions
- Columbia University
- Caltech
- Colorado State University
- Imperial College London
- Google DeepMind
- University of Washington
- Science
- Nature
- Scientific American
- Smithsonian Magazine
Locations
- New York City
- United States