Artificial DNA Made Exclusively of Nonnatural C-Nucleosides with Four Types of Nonnatural Bases

We describe a new class of DNA-like oligomers made exclusively of nonnatural, stable C-nucleosides. The nucleosides comprise four types of nonnatural bases attached to a deoxyribose through an acetylene bond with the β-configuration. The artificial DNA forms right-handed duplexes and triplexes with the complementary artificial DNA. The hybridization occurs spontaneously and sequence-selectively, and the resulting duplexes have thermal stabilities very close to those of natural duplexes. The artificial DNA might be applied to a future extracellular genetic system with information storage and amplifiable abilities.

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Synthetic Copycat Of Living Cell Underway: Life, But Not As We Know It?

ScienceDaily (May 29, 2008) — Researchers at The University of
Nottingham have taken some important first steps to creating a
synthetic copycat of a living cell, a leading science journal reports.
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