Combined biosynthesis and site-specific incorporation of phenylalanine derivatives from aryl aldehydes or carboxylic acids (opens in new tab)

Applications of genetic code expansion (GCE) in live cells are widespread and continually emerging, yet they have been limited by their reliance on the supplementation of non-standard amino acids (nsAAs) to cell culturing media. Here, we report the design of a single engineered bacterial host that performs the steps of phenylalanine derivative semi-synthesis and site-specific incorporation within target proteins. Our platform pathway exhibits broad substrate specificity towards commercially u...