Creation of Bacterial cells with 5-Hydroxytryptophan as a 21 st Amino Acid Building Block

While most organisms utilize 20 canonical amino acid building blocks for protein synthesis, adding additional candidates to the amino acid repertoire can greatly facilitate the investigation and manipulation of protein structures and functions. In this study, we report the generation of completely autonomous organisms with a 21 ncAA, 5-hydroxytryptophan (5HTP). Like 20 canonical amino acids, 5-hydroxytryptophan can be biosynthesized from simple carbon sources and is subsequently incorporated into proteins in response to the amber stop codon. Using this unnatural organism, we have prepared a single-chain immunoglobulin variable fragment conjugated with a fluorophore and demonstrated the utility of these autonomous cells to monitor oxidative stress. Creation of this and other cells containing the 21 amino acid will provide an opportunity to generate proteins and organisms with novel activities, as well as to determine the evolutionary consequences of using additional amino acid buildings.