Artificially Expanded Genetic Information System
artificially expanded genetic information systems
Artificially Expanded Genetic Information System (AEGIS) is a synthetic DNA analog experiment that uses some unnatural base pairs from the laboratories of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Florida, especially the Steven A. Benner lab. AEGIS is a NASA-funded project to try to understand how extraterrestrial life may have developed. In a 2024 article from the same laboratory, the concept has been broadened into anthropogenic evolvable genetic information systems, still with the same acronym.
Hachimoji DNA and Hachimoji RNA (from Japanese 八文字 hachimoji, "eight letters") is a strict subset of this system and comes from the same laboratory. This leads to four allowed base pairs: two unnatural base pairs formed by the synthetic nucleobases in addition to the two normal pairs. Hachimoji bases have been demonstrated in both DNA and RNA analogs, using deoxyribose and ribose respectively as the backbone sugar.
Benefits of such a nucleic acid system may include an enhanced ability to store data, as well as insights into what may be possible in the search for extraterrestrial life.
Hachimoji DNA and AEGIS comes from the same team led by ex-Harvard University chemist Steven Benner and belong to the same NASA funding project.
Normal DNA
Natural DNA is a molecule carrying the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning, and reproduction of all known living organisms and many viruses. DNA and ribonucleic acid (RNA) are nucleic acids; alongside proteins, lipids and complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides), nucleic acids are one of the four major types of macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life.
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