E. Coli Genetic Code Manipulated by Harvard Medical School Biologists in Research Effort

Biologists have replaced parts of the E. coli bacterium DNA using a new process that hits many targets at once, a feat that may enable scientists to significantly alter or re-engineer genetic material. A research team, led by Farren Isaacs and George Church of Harvard University Medical School, was able to make precise changes to the cell’s protein-making process in 32 strains of E. coli. They replaced one three-letter sequence of nucleotides with another throughout the entire organism, without harming the bacterium.