Cracked the human genetic code, it gives proteins never seen before

For the first time, the human genetic code has been 'cracked', obtaining cells capable of producing proteins never seen before: the synthetic biology experiment was conducted on blood stem cells and opens new scenarios for the study of the mechanisms underlying diseases , as Californian researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla explain in the study published in the journal of the American Academy of Sciences (Pnas).

The result represents a first for human cells, while in the past it had been obtained on bacteria, yeasts and mammalian cells. "Thanks to this new methodology we can introduce 'baits' (or labeled proteins) into cells with which to 'fish' molecular mechanisms otherwise difficult to study", comments Francesco Nicassio, coordinator of the Center of Genomics of the Italian Institute of Technology (Iit ) in Milan. "Combined with other technologies for the study of proteins, this technique will allow us to observe in detail the biological processes underlying many diseases, starting from those of the blood".

The Californian group led by Peter Schultz, in fact, used the blood stem cells taken from the umbilical cord and modified them thanks to a virus rendered harmless and used as a vector. Thanks to this shuttle, it was possible to insert in the DNA all the molecular tools necessary for the cells to recognize and use non-canonical amino acids derived from the amino acid lysine.

In this way the stem cells began to produce proteins by incorporating the non-canonical amino acids and their daughter cells did the same, after having differentiated in a test tube. The researchers then tried to implant the 'retouched' stem in mice: fed with unconventional amino acids, they manage to use them in the production of proteins. In light of these results, biologists speculate that the genetic code of other types of human stem cells may also be cracked.