UC San Diego

The genetic code of most organisms was evolved to encode 20 amino acids. Although the ability to encode 20 amino acids provides the basis to translate proteins necessary for life, researchers are also limited to these 20 amino acids for conventional site-directed mutagenesis. The ability to encode unnatural amino acids provides researchers the ability to circumvent the limitation imposed by the genetic code. Genetically encoding unnatural amino acids provides researchers the means to not only mimic naturally occurring posttranslational modifications but also the ability to encode amino acids with new physical or chemical properties to study biological processes. The incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins had been developed in Escherichia coli and also in yeast. We have developed a methodology to genetically incorporate unnatural amino acids in mammalian cells in response to an amber codon (UAG). The incorporation of unnatural amino acids is high in E. coli and yeast, but the incorporation in mammalian cells is relatively low. In addition to developing the system to incorporate unnatural amino acids in mammalian cells, we have also improved suppression efficiencies by modifying the synthetase and unnatural amino acid. To incorporate unnatural amino acids in response to an amber codon, the tRNA anticodon is mutated from a GUA to a CUA. We were able to show that engineering the anticodon-binding domain of the synthetase could enhance the recognition of the tRNA and thus increased suppression efficiencies. Furthermore, by masking the carboxyl group of the amino acid by an ester group, we were able to increase the bioavailability of an unnatural amino acid to further increase suppression efficiencies. Most evolved synthetases aminoacylate unnatural amino acids that are structurally similar to the native substrate of the wild- type synthetase. We were able to adapt Methanosarcina mazei pyrrolysine synthetase (PylRS) to charge a considerable disparate amino acid from its native substrate, O-methyl-L-tyrosine. In addition, the X-ray crystal structure was solved for the evolved PylRS complexed with O-methyl-L-tyrosine at 1.75Å. This multifaceted approach provides the basis to engineer the PylRS to incorporate a significantly diverse selection of unnatural amino acids than previously anticipated