I am well aware of the basic molecular biology of the cell, as well as the RNA world hypothesis.
All due respect to Benner for his work - my comment was rather too pointed, I'll concede that. Nonetheless, I am always wary of too much theory being induced from too little data.
Benner's experiment shows that an expanded genetic code can form molecules that show greater chemical functionality in a given situation than that of natural DNA molecules. Now a quote from the abstract:
> This suggests that this system explored much of the sequence space available to this genetic system and that GACTZP libraries are richer reservoirs of functionality than standard libraries.
Already he is starting to extrapolate when he starts talking about the extended libraries in general. The Quantamagazine article then goes on to say:
> In other words, the new additions appear to improve the alphabet, at least under these conditions.
That is true, but for a rather narrow definition of "improve", and a very narrow set of conditions. The result is that the superficial reader goes away thinking "they've made a better DNA".
All due respect to Benner for his work - my comment was rather too pointed, I'll concede that. Nonetheless, I am always wary of too much theory being induced from too little data.
Benner's experiment shows that an expanded genetic code can form molecules that show greater chemical functionality in a given situation than that of natural DNA molecules. Now a quote from the abstract:
> This suggests that this system explored much of the sequence space available to this genetic system and that GACTZP libraries are richer reservoirs of functionality than standard libraries.
Already he is starting to extrapolate when he starts talking about the extended libraries in general. The Quantamagazine article then goes on to say:
> In other words, the new additions appear to improve the alphabet, at least under these conditions.
That is true, but for a rather narrow definition of "improve", and a very narrow set of conditions. The result is that the superficial reader goes away thinking "they've made a better DNA".