Comments on: Synthetic XNA molecules can evolve and store genetic information, just like DNA

By: Anthony Hauser

Anthony Hauser — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 15:24:23 +0000

Um…the “CeNA” is claimed by the article to be Cyclohexane, but alkanes (hence the ANE at the end) don’t have pi-bonds. It would instead be a cyclohexene with a pi-bond. Although then the chair-conformation structure present wouldn’t be that good because it’s unstable in that presentation.

By: sourav

sourav — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:24:32 +0000

it”s a miracle in science with a ray of hope for creating artificial life.

By: T.g.Padmanabhan

T.g.Padmanabhan — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:24:43 +0000

Victor Pinheiro will be worshiped as the God by new artificial life forms based on XNAs !!!
chances for giving the artificial life forms immortality by tweaking the XNAs are bright!!
Long live the artificial God- Victor Pinheiro!!
Thanks to Discover Magazine!

By: Odin

Odin — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 23:46:25 +0000

Hope they come up with a triple helix next.

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:31:21 +0000

@Mike – Thanks! Appreciated.

@Roedy – That’s the idea that Holliger is suggesting, but the point is that we don’t know. But we can now test RNA/DNA against these others to see if they have any advantages.

@Floodmouse – Mutation isn’t just produced by chemical damage. There’s also basic copying error. That contributes a lot too.

By: floodmouse

floodmouse — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:06:25 +0000

If the XNA variants are really bulletproof against most forms of chemical damage, wouldn’t that prevent them from going through fast evolution like DNA-based life? It seems like there wouldn’t be so many mutations to select from.

By: Roedy Green

Roedy Green — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:17:04 +0000

Was it just a fluke that life on earth used RNA/DNA? Would these XNA alternates be just as likely bases for life on other planets? Am I asking you to speculate with far too little data?

By: Geoff

Geoff — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:21:16 +0000

Can’t wait to tell some intelligent design fans that Vitor Pinheiro did a better job then their proposed designer

By: megan

megan — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 03:29:24 +0000

Wow, it makes the concept of Synthetic lifeforms so real and more probable. Like the replicants in Blade Runner. Sent to mine uninhabitable planets and extremes of space due to their chemistry biology. But then programmed to cell die early for safety and prevention of over running DNA/RNA archaic originals.

By: Mike Ward (@Schroedinger99)

Mike Ward (@Schroedinger99) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:24:25 +0000

By sheer coincidence I’d just finished re-reading (after 39 years [sic]) Watson’s “DOUBLE HELIX” today. Leaving aside the blatant sexism towards Franklin, I found myself just as riveted as when I first read this book all those years ago – even though I knew the ending this time

I’d hardly put the book down when Adam Rutherford’s tweet came through drawing my attention to this article. Beautifully written and fascinating stuff; and very much the icing on the cake of my reading earlier in the day.

Even from the point of view of pure science, the exercise of constructing and manipulating synthetic nucleic acids is awe inspiring. Consideration of the possible applications of this technology makes it all the more exciting.

Can’t remember the last time I enjoyed reading a science article as much as enjoyed this one.