Nirenberg's Genetic Code Chart, 1961-66 On May 27, 1961, Heinrich Matthaei, a postdoc working with NIH scientist Marshal Nirenberg, placed synthetic polyuracil RNA into 20 test tubes to see what it ...

Two-faced codon rewrites genetics? The genetics of a marine protozoan may overturn one of the long-held tenets of protein synthesis. According to conventional wisdom, the genetic code is unambiguous: ...

Now, another group of scientists, some of whom worked on Syn61, have managed to further reduce the genetic code of E. coli down to 57 codons, making Syn57. They recently published their work in ...

Life's Greatest Secret is the story of the discovery and cracking of the genetic code, the thing that ultimately enables a spiraling molecule to give rise to the life that exists all around us.

In a giant feat of genetic engineering, scientists have created bacteria that make proteins in a radically different way than all natural species do.