Synthesis of Polyester by Means of Genetic Code Reprogramming

SummaryHere we report the ribosomal polymerization of α-hydroxy acids by means of genetic code reprogramming. The flexizyme system, a ribozyme-based tRNA acylation tool, was used to reassign individual codons to seven types of α-hydroxy acids, and then polyesters were synthesized under controls of the reprogrammed genetic code using a reconstituted cell-free translation system. The sequence and length of the polyester segments were specified by the mRNA template, indicating that high-fidelity ribosome expression of polyesters was possible. This work opens a door for the mRNA-directed synthesis of backbone-altered biopolymers.