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Q&A: How ‘Mirror Bacteria’ Could Take a Devastating Toll on Humanity < Yale School of Medicine

medicine.yale.edu · 1,640 words · saved by 1 readers

Scientists are raising alarms about the potential risks of “mirror bacteria,” synthetic organisms composed of reversed molecular structures that could

8 Minute Read Share article Many of the molecules that are the building blocks of life on earth have a curious property: they are asymmetrical and can exist in one of two possible mirror-image forms. DNA and RNA, for example, are built from “right-handed nucleotides,” while proteins contain “left-handed” amino acids. This property is known as chirality, and it’s pervasive throughout the entire tree of life. Some synthetic biologists are exploring how to build reversed versions of biological molecules. Because the body takes longer to break down these synthetic molecules, the goal of this resea

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