Inside Cover: Chemical Evolution of a Bacterial Proteome (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 34/2015)

Abstract

A first step towards the creation of synthetic cells is described by N. Budisa et al. in their Communication on The chemical composition and the genetic code of an auxotrophic E. coli were changed in the frame of a long‐term evolution experiment. During the experiment the cells were gradually forced to replace the natural building block tryptophan with thienopyrrolylalanine in their proteomes. This is the first step in the creation of synthetic life, which should be genetically and metabolically so far away from that found in nature that it cannot survive outside of the laboratory.