UC Irvine

The yeast cytoplasmically localized pGKL1/TP-DNAP1 plasmid/DNA polymerase pair forms an orthogonal DNA replication system whose mutation rate can be drastically increased without influencing genomic replication, thereby supporting in vivo continuous evolution. Here, we report that the pGKL2/TP-DNAP2 plasmid/DNA polymerase pair forms a second orthogonal replication system. We show that custom genes can be encoded and expressed from pGKL2, that error-prone TP-DNAP2s can be engineered, and that pGKL2 replication by TP-DNAP2 is both orthogonal to genomic replication in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and mutually orthogonal with pGKL1 replication by TP-DNAP1. This demonstration of two mutually orthogonal DNA replication systems with tunable error rates and properties should enable new applications in cell-based continuous evolution, genetic recording, and synthetic biology at large.