Chemical Synthetic Biology

About this book

Chemistry plays a very important role in the emerging field of synthetic biology. In particular, chemical synthetic biology is concerned with the synthesis of chemical structures, such as proteins, that do not exist in nature. With contributions from leading international experts, "Chemical Synthetic Biology" shows how chemistry underpins synthetic biology. The book is an essential guide to this fascinating new field, and will find a place on the bookshelves of researchers and students working in synthetic chemistry, synthetic and molecular biology, bioengineering, systems biology, computational genomics, and bioinformatics.

Contents

List of Contributors

Introduction

Part One: Nucleic Acids
1 Searching for Nucleic Acid Alternatives
2 Never-Born RNAs: Versatile Modules for Chemical Synthetic Biology
3 Synthetic Biology, Tinkering Biology, and Artificial Biology: A Perspective from Chemistry
4 Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNAs) as a Tool in Chemical Biology

Part Two: Peptides and Proteins
5 High Solubility of Random-Sequence Proteins Consisting of Five Kinds of Primitive Amino Acids
6 Experimental Approach for Early Evolution of Protein Function
7 Searching for de novo Totally Random Amino Acid Sequences

Part Three: Complex Systems
8 Synthetic Genetic Codes as the Basis of Synthetic Life
9 Toward Safe Genetically Modified Organisms through the Chemical Diversification of Nucleic Acids
10 The Minimal Ribosome
11 Semi-Synthetic Minimal Living Cells

Part Four: General Problems
12 Replicators: Components for Systems Chemistry
13 Dealing with the Outer Reaches of Synthetic Biology Biosafety, Biosecurity, IPR, and Ethical Challenges of Chemical Synthetic Biology
14 The Synthetic Approach in Biology: Epistemological Notes for Synthetic Biology

Index

Customer Reviews