Design of Synthetic DNA from First Principles - Designing Tomorrow's Life: Advancing Synthetic DNA Engineering  (Paperback, Dr. Siamkhanthang Neihsial)

The author of this work wishes to design synthetic, innovative information-bearing macromolecules using theoretical and computational chemistry. DNA is the prototypical information-bearing macromolecule in life and nature, containing all the organism's life information. Genetic information is encoded in the base (or nucleotide) sequence of the macromolecular DNA duplex as trinucleotide “words” or triplets. This information can be replicated infinitely by DNA replication. Messenger RNA, synthesised gene by gene from the DNA template during transcription, can also retrieve or pass on this information. Protein synthesis uses genetic information in messenger RNA to translate the base sequence of mRNA into the amino acid sequence of the synthesised protein using transfer RNA as an adapter. Information-bearing macromolecules other than DNA are feasible. Nanotechnology may require molecular systems for information storage, duplication, and retrieval at the molecular level.