An engineered bacterium is able to copy DNA that contains unnatural genetic code The addition of new letters to the 'alphabet of life' could enable biologists to vastly expand the range of proteins that they could synthesize. Credit: National Nanotechnology Initiative For billions of years, the history of life has been written with just four letters A, T, C and G, the labels given to the DNA subunits contained in all organisms. That alphabet has just grown longer, researchers announce, with the creation of a living cell that has two 'foreign' DNA building blocks in its genome. Hailed as a breakthrough by other scientists, the work is a step towards the synthesis of cells able to churn out drugs and other useful molecules. It also raises the possibility that cells could one day be engineered without any of the four DNA bases used by all organisms on Earth. What we have now is a living cell that literally stores increased genetic information, says Floyd Romesberg, a chemical biologist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, who led the 15-year effort. Their research appears online today inNature. Each strand of the DNA's double helix has a backbone of sugar … Continue reading →

LEBANON, OR (KPTV) - DNA evidence led to an arrest and a major haul of suspected stolen goods nearly a year after a burglary was first reported in Lebanon. Deputies were called out to a home on Stoltz Hill Road on May 9, 2013. The caller reported that their neighbors were out of state and someone had broken into their home. When the victims returned home, it was determined that more than $67,000 worth of property had been stolen, including 10 guns, an ATV, a large coin collection, U.S. savings bonds, jewelry, home electronics, chainsaws, hunting equipment and tools. Deputies seized evidence and sent it to the Oregon State Police Crime Laboratory to be checked for possible DNA. The crime lab reported finding DNA on the evidence but found no match in the database. The DNA profile was stored in the state and national DNA databases and periodically searched as new samples came in. On April 29, 2014, a match was found, linking the DNA evidence to William Driskill, 35, of Lebanon. On Tuesday, a search warrant was served at his home on the 600 block of E Street. Deputies said they recovered a gun and coins believed to be … Continue reading →