In this study, the researchers focused on para-nitro-L-phenylalanine (pN-Phe), a non-standard amino acid that is neither one of the twenty standard amino acids nor been observed in nature. pN-Phe has been used by other research groups to help the immune system mount a response to proteins that it does not ordinarily respond to.
“The nitro chemical functional group has valuable properties and has been underexplored by folks who are trying to rewire metabolism,” Kunjapur said. “pN-Phe also has a nice history in the literature — it can be added onto a protein from a mouse, delivered back to mice, and the immune system will no longer tolerate the original version of that protein. That ability has promise for the treatment or prevention of diseases that are caused by rogue proteins that the immune system struggles to lock onto.”
Genetic code expansion methods allowed the researchers to…
