SYNTHETIC E. COLI WITH COMPRESSED DNA OUTSMARTS VIRUSES IN RADICAL GENETIC LEAP

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

Researchers at Cambridge have created synthetic E. coli bacteria with just 57 codons - virtually all known life has 64. Syn57 has the most radically compressed genetic code ever built. The technique used to create the strain opens up the possibility of future organisms that can create unnatural materials and virus-resistant biofactories. Syn57 may be immune to many viruses, as viruses rely on the host's genetic code to replicate.