Chemical Evolution of a Bacterial Proteome

We have changed the amino acid set of the genetic code of Escherichia coli by evolving cultures capable of growing on the synthetic noncanonical amino acid L-beta-(thieno[3,2-b]pyrrolyl)alanine ([3,2]Tpa) as a sole surrogate for the canonical amino acid L-tryptophan (Trp). A long-term cultivation experiment in defined synthetic media resulted in the evolution of cells capable of surviving Trp![3,2] Tpa substitutions in their proteomes in response to the 20899 TGG codons of the E. coli W3110 genome. These evolved bacteria with new-to-nature amino acid composition showed robust growth in the complete absence of Trp. Our experimental results illustrate an approach for the evolution of synthetic cells with alternative biochemical building blocks.