Scientists have created an "alien" life-form that contains six man-made genetic building blocks instead of the four genetic building blocks that all living creatures on Earth possess. All organisms naturally have four letters of DNA, which direct proteins on how to perform processes within cells. Scientists engineered a bacterium with six letters of DNA, which resulted in more information being able to be stored in their cells. It is hoped that this will create the possibility of making artificial proteins that are able to perform more jobs within cells and will allow scientists to make new drugs and vaccines.
More about genetics:
- The first scientific research on the heredity of genes dates to 1866, by Gregor Mendel.
- Up to one-fifth of DNA is referred to as "junk DNA" because it contains proteins and other materials that are inactive and do not encode with any proteins.
- Humans have about 7% of the same genetic structure as the e.Coli bacteria and approximately 98% of the same genetic material as chimpanzees.